What Do You Mean by Quiet Time? Stop the Geese!

Silence is perhaps the loudest sound we don’t hear.  Silence shouts at us!  We know we should listen; we understand that getting quiet before God is vital; we know that it is essential in prayer; yet we drown out the shout of silence to hear the whispers of sin or spiritual lethargy.  Our dog, Cindi, now in doggie heaven, seemed to get hard of hearing in her last years.  We could shout at her or cry for her to hurry up and do her business. However, she had one speed, her own.  The shouts of the master brought little to no response.  There was a treat that she loved, and we had limited her to the treat because it was fattening.  The biscuit treat was in a box, and all we had to do was barely rattle the box, and from another room, she would charge to the kitchen.  She was a master manipulator.

Cindi was not hard of hearing; she had just learned to tune out the master.  Our master certainly can shout, considering the giving of the Ten Commandments, but it seems he usually speaks quietly and in silence.  How do I get to that place of silence?  Others have said you can’t keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from building a nest!  That sounds great, but as with all simplistic answers, it does not hold up to scrutiny. I wish it were only a bird flying over my head, but what I find is that when I bow to pray, an entire flock of Canadian Geese rain down upon me.  I am surrounded.  When I try to shoo them away, they attack!  These cantankerous birds will come running after you.  Am I the only one that deals with a flock of birds at prayer?

As soon as I move toward silence, here comes politics, temptation, worry, gossip, my schedule for the day, news, problems, etc.  I can’t shoo them away; I need some buckshot to blast them.  A worse plan is to create the same environment where God spoke to me before, so I prepare a place and expect the same response from God.  Oops, that sounds like manipulation.  Yeah, like we could manipulate God.

I don’t know all the keys to silence, but I know the tremendous benefit of becoming silent before God.  I long for that time, but I do nothing about it.  I long for the time to be quiet, but I don’t act upon the longing.  When I have been able to get silent before God, it is usually because I have focused on Christ that day.  This is why getting away for a day or two alone can sometimes bring us to a place of silence.

A suggestion for quiet time

When the Apostle Paul speaks of praying without ceasing or never stop praying or pray continually in I Thessalonians 5:17, what does he mean?  I do not have all the answers, but I think I may have one:  an attitude of prayer during the day prepares us for silence before him.  I almost think we need to take time to shoot some geese before we find the silent place.  How do we identify these geese?  A suggestion I read once was to have a tablet before you in the quiet time.  Begin to relax and prepare for prayer, and as the geese come, write down their names:  Anger, lust, politics, work, health, etc.  Do this for two weeks and then distill the list to the five common goose issues that prevent silence.  Take time before prayer to bring the geese up, deal with them, and move on.  You may soon develop a way to get past some of the distractions to get to more silence.

My primary prayer time is early morning, yet the events of yesterday and the pending schedule of today still come to mind.  I try to sneak up while the geese sleep!  Unfortunately, my footsteps are like a treat box to them.  Many church fathers discovered that dealing with our sins and walking in Christ prepared us for silence.

Silence is a rare commodity.  In some congregations, 5 minutes of silence in a service would send people running for the doors.  It is so loud.  Silence Shouts!  What will we do?  Run from it or embrace it?  Our decision will affect our growth in Christ.

For all of you, I wish you a day of silence and a day of hearing the Spirit of God.

Dr. James D. Allen

© 3D Church Consulting LLC, 2023

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