The King Is ComingShembull

The Sound of Silence

For forty days Jesus lived in solitude in the wilderness. He spent his days and nights in total silence—no music playing, no disciples asking questions, no one texting him, FaceTiming him, or Snapchatting. For forty days. Can you imagine?

Jesus’ time in the wilderness took him away from the distractions of life so he could focus solely on communing with the Father. Silence is a discipline; it doesn’t just happen naturally. But when we choose silence and make room for it in our lives, we enter into communion with God.

Jesus’ time in the wilderness wasn’t all peace and bliss. Satan hates nothing more than for us to commune with God because he recognizes—probably even more than we do—the power of soaking in God’s healing presence. He came loud and proud with distractions and temptations, harassing Jesus with luxuries and power, status and delicacies, like bread. (They didn’t have white chocolate mochas back then, so bread must’ve been the thing.)

Silence can be a time of communing with God, but it can also be empty space for pity parties and negative self-talk. This is exactly why we must take every thought captive, just as we discussed a few days ago, and command the enemy to leave us, just as Jesus did, crying “Away from me, Satan!”

Silence is a precious gift from God. Practicing the discipline of silence ushers us into his presence, where we find the peace and RESToration our souls desperately need.

REFLECT

When we choose silence and make room for it in our lives, we enter into communion with God.

RESPOND

What are some things keeping you from practicing the discipline of silence? What can you do to overcome those obstacles?

Make time for silence today. It doesn’t have to be forty days and forty nights. It doesn’t even have to be forty minutes. Just carve out some time in your daily rhythm of life to practice the discipline of silence.