The Sound of Silence

July 30, 2014

The Sound of Silence

“When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour.”

Revelation 8:1

I am reading Pilgrimage of a Soul: Contemplative Spirituality for the Active Life by Phileena Heuertz. The book is an autobiographical account of Phileena’s pilgrimage to Camino De Santiago which was followed by a six month sabbatical. Her experience was an encounter with the Dark Night of the Soul as described by Saint John of the Cross. The silence of God was her close traveling companion during much of her pilgrimage and sabbatical. I am hosting Phileena as the speaker at our church’s Spiritual Formation Weekend in February 2015, and I look forward to learning more about the pilgrimage of her soul.

One of the questions I want to ask her is whether in hind-sight she has reconsidered the silence of her traveling companion. I too have experienced my encounters in the dark night with my soul laid bare. I too experienced the sound of silence. But in retrospect, I am coming to understand the silence was not so much that my companion, the Holy Comforter, was silent, as it was that I wasn’t listening. Perhaps it is better stated, I wasn’t listening for the truth my companion was offering to me.

The only true silence I can recall experiencing was the twelve hours, or there about, that I was under anesthesia during my cardiac bypass surgery last year. I have absolutely no recollection of those hours. No dreams, no sensations, no sounds until I heard the whirl of the various and sundry medical instruments attached to me when I woke up in ICU. It has been my experience that apart from those few hours in never-never land, my life is filled with sound. Sometimes that sound is audible.

Sometimes that sound is silent. I like this time the best because that’s when I hear the Holy Comforter speaking to me. Sometimes the Comforter is speaking to me through scripture. Sometimes the Comforter is speaking from behind the far mountain range, sometimes he’s on the side of the hill by the wild turkeys, sometimes he is stirring the crows to caw loudly. Sometimes I hear him from the blossoms of the crepe myrtles, and sometimes he’s in the thunder or the splendor of the morning sunrise. Always he’s speaking of the glory of Creation and the Creator’s love for all He has set His hand to, especially those created in His image.

Revelation 8:1 tells us “there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour.” I take that as an indication that silence is extraordinary in the Kingdom of God. I take that as an invitation to listen more carefully, especially for the voice of God in the silence. 

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.