Several of you have asked about the text on the video during our "Silence and Solitude Experiment" a couple weeks ago. Go ahead and use this as a time of silence and let me know what happens. Shhh...
Why is silence so hard to deal with?
183 million people are regularly exposed to noise levels labeled as excessive by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Do you have a cell phone? A pager? Voice-mail?
Do you have a cell phone with voice-mail and e-mail?
Do you have a TV? More than 1 TV?
Do you have a radio on all day? On at work, in the car, at home?
Is there such a thing as visual noise?
Do you wish there were more billboards along the roads you drive?
Do we have enough strip malls yet?
Do you feel like God is distant?
Do you wish God’s voice would be louder in your life?
Is there a connection between the amount of noise in our lives and our inability to hear God?
SUV’s and minivans now come with separate CD and DVD systems for the backseats.
You can buy wired clothing now. Coats and jackets equipped with cell phones and MP3 players.
Try this.
Make yourself comfortable in your chair and begin breathing slowly as you read.
Then Moses and the priests, who are Levites, said to all Israel, “Be silent, Oh Israel, and listen!” _Deuteronomy 27:9
Search your hearts and be silent. _Pslams 4:4
But the Lord is in His holy temple: Let all the earth be silent before Him.
_Habakkuk 2:20
Come to me, all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.
_Jesus in Matthew 11
If I am not still, and if I don’t listen, how is Jesus going to give me rest?
Have you spent the same amount of time worrying and talking about your difficult, confusing situations as you have spent in silence, listening to what God might have to say?
Why is talking so much easier than listening?
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. _Luke 5:16
These were regular disciplines Jesus had. Silence. Solitude.
When was the last time you were in a solitary place?
What is it about silence that is so difficult?
Why is it easier to surround myself with noise and keep moving than to stop, be silent and listen?
How much noise do I voluntarily subject myself to?
Does my schedule, my time, my life look like that of a person who wants to hear God’s voice?
Maybe the healing and guidance we desperately need is not going to come from one more meeting or therapy session or sermon or self-help book but from simply listening for the voice of God.
Do you really believe that God’s voice is more interesting than the voices around you?
Is it possible that you have been searching for God in the winds, the earthquakes, and fires and He is waiting to speak to you in the silence? Silence.
183 million people are regularly exposed to noise levels labeled as excessive by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Do you have a cell phone? A pager? Voice-mail?
Do you have a cell phone with voice-mail and e-mail?
Do you have a TV? More than 1 TV?
Do you have a radio on all day? On at work, in the car, at home?
Is there such a thing as visual noise?
Do you wish there were more billboards along the roads you drive?
Do we have enough strip malls yet?
Do you feel like God is distant?
Do you wish God’s voice would be louder in your life?
Is there a connection between the amount of noise in our lives and our inability to hear God?
SUV’s and minivans now come with separate CD and DVD systems for the backseats.
You can buy wired clothing now. Coats and jackets equipped with cell phones and MP3 players.
Try this.
Make yourself comfortable in your chair and begin breathing slowly as you read.
Then Moses and the priests, who are Levites, said to all Israel, “Be silent, Oh Israel, and listen!” _Deuteronomy 27:9
Search your hearts and be silent. _Pslams 4:4
But the Lord is in His holy temple: Let all the earth be silent before Him.
_Habakkuk 2:20
Come to me, all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.
_Jesus in Matthew 11
If I am not still, and if I don’t listen, how is Jesus going to give me rest?
Have you spent the same amount of time worrying and talking about your difficult, confusing situations as you have spent in silence, listening to what God might have to say?
Why is talking so much easier than listening?
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. _Luke 5:16
These were regular disciplines Jesus had. Silence. Solitude.
When was the last time you were in a solitary place?
What is it about silence that is so difficult?
Why is it easier to surround myself with noise and keep moving than to stop, be silent and listen?
How much noise do I voluntarily subject myself to?
Does my schedule, my time, my life look like that of a person who wants to hear God’s voice?
Maybe the healing and guidance we desperately need is not going to come from one more meeting or therapy session or sermon or self-help book but from simply listening for the voice of God.
Do you really believe that God’s voice is more interesting than the voices around you?
Is it possible that you have been searching for God in the winds, the earthquakes, and fires and He is waiting to speak to you in the silence? Silence.
1 comment:
I have heard that stuff before. Who said all of that?
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