Out of the Stillness
Ruth Ann Stites, Staff Writer
Both in fiction and in real life investigators use silence to encourage people to remember and elaborate on their accounts of events. Those who are trying to be helpful need to process memory, often recalling more details when the interviewer allows a comfortable silence to follow their statements. Those who are trying to hide the truth often speak into an uncomfortably long silence thanks to our ingrained social expectation of avoiding prolonged silence. It’s easy to forget that one has the right to remain silent when time passes without the interrogator saying a word.
Stillness, though, is more than lack of sound. While we often try to fill silence with noise, few of us haven’t turned on music or a TV program when alone at home, stillness is more about preparation than quiet. It is an active quiet that anticipates something important to come. This is especially true when we are still before God. Then we are creating a space where we can hear Him just as Elijah did in 1 Kings 19:11-12 when he heard God in a “still small voice.”[1] It is a space where we can see Him at work as the Israelites did when Moses led them to the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army at their heels (Exodus 14:13-14). We learn more of Him in stillness, “Be still, and know that I am God,” as the Lord says in Psalm 46:10. In stillness we experience trust and surrender (Psalm 62:1).
Prayer is deeply connected to stillness. The Lord Jesus habitually went to pray in “a solitary place” as in Mark 1:35. Peter “went up on the roof to pray” and was granted a ministry changing vision (Acts 10). And, while the Biblical account does not say he was alone, I have always imagined Ananias by himself when the Lord called him in a vision to go minister to the newly converted Saul (Acts 9:1-19). At the very least, he was still before the Lord within the vision.
It is within this stillness that we are most likely to hear God speak to us. As we come before Him in prayer with a quiet heart, we are ready to listen rather than speak. In Revelation 8:1-5 John saw the “seventh seal” opened and “there was silence in heaven for half an hour” (Rev. 8:1). The word rendered “silence” in English is the Greek word “sigē.” It “denotes a profound stillness or quietness. It is a silence that suggests awe and reverence.”[2] The response of God’s people following this stillness was praise. So, when we come in stillness before Him in prayer, we too will find that our watching, listening, and waiting will become praise. May we learn to be still and know He is God as we pray.
Reflection Questions:
- Have you ever thought of stillness or silence as a spiritual discipline? Do you find it difficult to be silent and wait on God? Why or why not?
- You probably noticed that most of the examples of practicing stillness were done alone. While seeking solitude in a “quiet place” out in nature as Jesus did may help us in our quest for practicing the discipline of silence, there are many opportunities in our hectic 21st century lives to find a place to be still and silent and pray. Identify some of those places and opportunities available to you.
- Stillness before God is something we can all begin to incorporate into our prayer lives. Are you willing to begin the process of making what we can call “be still and know” prayer a habit? Remember that the end result of such a priority in prayer is praise!
(Photo description and credit: One fine spring afternoon back in 2019 I set out to walk part of the North Bentonville Trail. I took this picture of a statue of a “primitive” hiker. While indicative of motion, we can be certain that this hiker is not going anywhere (at least under its own power). It seems a fitting symbol of both stillness and action we wish to cultivate in prayer. R.A. Stites, Bentonville, AR)
[1] Quote from the King James Version. The NIV uses “a gentle whisper.”
