Our Aversion to Silence
There’s a scene in one of my favorite stories where one of the characters uses silence as a “tactic.” He pauses in the conversation and everyone becomes uncomfortable. One of the other characters can’t handle the silence, so he begins jabbering on and on and making a fool of himself—anything to fill the void. Silence can make many people uncomfortable, restless, or even annoyed.
About ten years ago, 11 studies were conducted by psychologists at the University of Virginia and Harvard University. They started by asking college students to sit in a room, alone with their thoughts, for 6 to 15 minutes. The results: They didn’t like it! The researchers then expanded the study to include people ages 18 to 77, and the results were essentially the same. Old or young, people didn’t like the silence. They wanted to do something. The researchers wondered, “Would people prefer an unpleasant activity to no activity at all?” So they did the study again, but first they administered an electric shock to each participant. The shock was so unpleasant that most people said they would pay money rather than be shocked again. However, once they were in the room for a few minutes, they were given a button that allowed them to shock themselves. About 12 of the 18 men shocked themselves rather than sit and do nothing at all!
Our culture is addicted to doing.
Our culture is addicted to doing. We wake up and grab our phones and scroll before our eyes are even clear. The average person in the United States spends about 7 hours in front of a screen every day. Then there’s work, sports, and other activities. We go, go, go—do, do, do. We complain about “how busy things are,” but sometimes we wear it like a badge of honor, as if it somehow means that our lives are important and meaningful. If things slow down, we become anxious and grasp at something else to do.
Then comes Christmas. Into our already busy and anxious lives comes the busiest season of the year. And although we sing, “Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright…,” or “O Little town of Bethlehem, how silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given,” much of December is filled with endless noise. Noise at our jobs, noise at the mall, noise on the highway, noise on social media, and noise in our families.
But perhaps the worst of all is the noise inside of us. There’s a never-ending alarm in our heads reminding us to cook this, bake that, buy this, wrap that. Even when the world is silent around us, there’s little silence inside us.
One of Satan’s designs is that we would become so busy with the daily grind that we never stop to think about what matters most.
In 2 Corinthians 2:11, Paul warns “that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” And one of Satan’s designs is that we would become so busy with the daily grind that we never stop to think about what matters most. Satan doesn’t want us to stop and think about our soul. He doesn’t want us to remember our mortality—that we’re soon going to die and be buried like an animal and remembered no more. He doesn’t want us to think about the judgment that awaits us all, and the horrible hell that he will share with everyone who ignores their Creator and goes their own way. Most of all, Satan doesn’t want us to stop and think about the awful and wonderful price that Jesus paid to ransom our soul and give us life more abundantly.
An Invitation to Silence
This is one of the reasons why I love the Church’s sacred season of Advent: While the world speeds up and turns up the volume, Advent invites us to slow down and listen for the still small voice of God. It calls us to be still, to reflect, and—yes—to repent.
While the world speeds up and turns up the volume, Advent invites us to slow down and listen for the still small voice of God.
This year, as I prayed and reflected on what to preach for the first Sunday of Advent at our church, my heart was drawn again and again to Habakkuk 2:18–20:
18 “What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! 19 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”
Habakkuk is contrasting the living God to false idols. Idols are “speechless.” They are “silent stones.” We can talk to idols, but idols can’t talk back. The living God, however, is always awake, always present. He is holy and fearsome. As Francis Schaffer famously said, “He is there and He is not silent.” The most appropriate response for creatures is to be silent and listen in God’s glorious presence.
For several months now, I have started Daily Prayer with Habakkuk 2:20 more than any other verse. It’s is a beautiful reminder that it’s okay to stop doing. In fact, God commands us to stop doing and simply become aware of his holy presence in silence.
God commands us to stop doing and simply become aware of his holy presence in silence.
In Psalm 62:1, David declares, “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.” This verse captures the spirit of Advent. But it’s hard to wait in silence. And in verse 5, David engages in self-talk: “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.” David was surrounded by enemies who were plotting against him to destroy him, but he said to himself, “David, wait. Wait in silence. Learn to wait for God to do what only God can do.”
In Exodus 14, the people of Israel were at the edge of the Red Sea, Pharoah approached with his armies, and the people despaired, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? But Moses responded in verse 14, “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Simple, but difficult.
Again and again, Scripture urges us to be silent, listen, and trust in God. “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
Mary showed us the way when she sat at Jesus’ feet listening in rapt attention while her sister Martha scurried about doing, doing, doing. Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41–42).
Schedule Silence
What plans do you have from now until December 25? Parties? Shopping? Decorating? Baking? These are all wonderful parts of the season. Cooking and wrapping can be a meaningful expression of love. Programs and concerts can be a powerful celebration of God’s gift. But I want to encourage you to add something else, something even more important, to your December calendar: Silence.
Don’t allow the busyness of this season to get in the way of your personal devotions or your family devotions. Don’t become anxious and troubled about so many things that you neglect the “one thing necessary”—“the good portion.” Don’t allow the noise of this season to drown out the still small voice of the one whom this season is all about. Schedule silence. Make “quiet time with God” a priority. And don’t let anything else interrupt it.
Don’t allow the noise of this season to drown out the still small voice of the one whom this season is all about.
Here’s what I suggest: Go somewhere alone. Leave your electronics in another room. Shut the door. Maybe bring a cup of coffee. Maybe light a candle. Maybe put on some peaceful music (e.g., our Advent playlist). Once you get yourself situated, don’t jump right in. Breathe deeply. Stop doing and simply become aware of God’s holy presence in silence. Try saying Habakkuk 2:20 to yourself a few times. Breathe in. Breathe out. “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” Repeat.
There’s a long Christian tradition of choosing a prayer word and saying it a few times as a way to refocus. Many people just use the name “Jesus.” Breathe in, breathe out, “Jesus.” Repeat. In his model of Lectio Divina, Craig G. Bartholomew recommends doing this for five minutes at the beginning of prayer.
I’ve enjoyed the Lectio 365 Prayer App, which often begins with these words: “As I enter prayer now, I pause to be still; to breathe slowly, to re-centre my scattered senses upon the presence of God.”
Cleanse your soul of the rush—the drive to do, do, do.
Whatever you do, cleanse your soul of the rush—the drive to do, do, do. Because what can easily happen is that we rush into and out of our daily devotions, and never actually connect with God. We hurry into the Word and out of the Word as if it’s just an ordinary book instead of the living Word of the living God who is very much present with us—always Immanuel.
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Silence is a spiritual discipline. It’s something that we must learn. It isn’t natural. But it’s an important discipline for every follower of Jesus.
Because God is more important than whatever we feel pressured to do, we are silent. Because God is more glorious than whatever else is vying for our attention, we are silent. Because the King of Kings has stood upon the earth, we are silent.
Because God is more glorious than whatever else is vying for our attention, we are silent.
Take a moment to sing, listen to, or meditate on the lyrics of the ancient Advent hymn, “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent.” Then, pray that the Lord will help you to practice this song in your life and family throughout the Advent season and always.
1 Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
and with fear and trembling stand;
ponder nothing earthly minded,
for, with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
our full homage to demand.
2 King of kings, yet born of Mary,
as of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
in the body and the blood.
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heav’nly food.
3 Rank on rank the host of heaven
spreads its vanguard on the way,
as the Light of light descendeth
from the realms of endless day,
that the pow’rs of hell may vanish
as the darkness clears away.
4 At His feet the six-winged seraph,
cherubim with sleepless eye,
veil their faces to the Presence,
as with ceaseless voice they cry,
“Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia, Lord Most High!”
