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THE POWER of SILENCE
by A.W. Tozer
There are truths that can never be learned except in the
noise and confusion of the market-place or in the tough
brutality of combat. The tumult and the shouting teach
their own rough lessons...
But there is another school where the soul must go to
learn its best eternal lessons. It is the school of silence.
"Be still and know," said the psalmist, and there is a
profound philosophy there, of universal application.
Prayer among evangelical Christians is always in danger
of degenerating into a glorified gold rush. Almost every
book on prayer deals with the "get" element mainly.
How to get things we want from God occupies most of
the space. Now, we gladly admit that we may ask for
and receive specific gifts and benefits in answer to
prayer, but we must never forget that the highest kind of
prayer is never the making of requests. Prayer at its
holiest moment is the entering into God to a place of
such blessed union as makes miracles seem tame and
remarkable answers to prayer appear something very far
short of wonderful by comparison.
Holy men of soberer and quieter times than ours knew
well the power of silence. David said, "I was dumb with
silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my
sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me; while
I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue."
There is a tip here for God's modern prophets. The heart
seldom gets hot while the mouth is open. A closed
mouth before God and a silent heart are indispensable
for the reception of certain kinds of truth. No man is
qualified to speak who has not first listened. It might
well be a wonderful revelation to some Christians if they
were to get completely quiet for a short time, long
enough, let us say, to get acquainted with their own
souls, and to listen in the silence for the deep voice of
the Eternal God. The experience, if repeated often
enough, would do more to cure our ulcers than all the
pills that ever rolled across a desk.
by A.W. Tozer
There are truths that can never be learned except in the
noise and confusion of the market-place or in the tough
brutality of combat. The tumult and the shouting teach
their own rough lessons...
But there is another school where the soul must go to
learn its best eternal lessons. It is the school of silence.
"Be still and know," said the psalmist, and there is a
profound philosophy there, of universal application.
Prayer among evangelical Christians is always in danger
of degenerating into a glorified gold rush. Almost every
book on prayer deals with the "get" element mainly.
How to get things we want from God occupies most of
the space. Now, we gladly admit that we may ask for
and receive specific gifts and benefits in answer to
prayer, but we must never forget that the highest kind of
prayer is never the making of requests. Prayer at its
holiest moment is the entering into God to a place of
such blessed union as makes miracles seem tame and
remarkable answers to prayer appear something very far
short of wonderful by comparison.
Holy men of soberer and quieter times than ours knew
well the power of silence. David said, "I was dumb with
silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my
sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me; while
I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue."
There is a tip here for God's modern prophets. The heart
seldom gets hot while the mouth is open. A closed
mouth before God and a silent heart are indispensable
for the reception of certain kinds of truth. No man is
qualified to speak who has not first listened. It might
well be a wonderful revelation to some Christians if they
were to get completely quiet for a short time, long
enough, let us say, to get acquainted with their own
souls, and to listen in the silence for the deep voice of
the Eternal God. The experience, if repeated often
enough, would do more to cure our ulcers than all the
pills that ever rolled across a desk.