Be Silent Before Me

Luke 10:40-42 “She [Martha] came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

In the Bible, there were two sisters named Martha & Mary. When Jesus came to visit, Martha was busy getting the house ready and the food ready and waiting on everyone. Mary was sitting by Jesus’ feet just being with him. “She [Martha] came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:40-42) What Martha was doing was important too, but Jesus said just sitting and being with Him was the better choice.

Do you ever sit in the silence? It seems like that is the last thing that most of us want to do. We fill our days with all the noise of the world. When in a car commuting to and from work we have the radio on. When we are at the house, we have the TV or the music on as background noise. If there is silence in a conversation, we rush to fill it. Why are we so uncomfortable with the silence?

I was on zoom with my prayer group and one of the ladies received this word, “My Dear Ones, Your chatter keeps me from touching your hearts in the silence. I need you to be silent before me. Some part of everyday I need you to be silent so that I can enter into your heart and enter into your spirit so I can heal those things that make you hurt. So that I can be there to heal your wounds. But if you chatter and chatter and chatter, I cannot be there to heal you. I need you to be quiet before me. Some part of everyday, please take that time and be quiet before me.”

I try to spend time in prayer daily, as I am sure many of you listening to this do. I pray for loved ones, any petitions that I have been asked to pray for, and anything that is going on in my life right now. Some days it is a few minutes and sometimes longer, depending on how much is going on and how much I have to say that day. I have somewhat recently, in the last year or two, started adding to this prayer time some time to listen to the Lord.

This is something with which I struggle greatly. It is hard for me just to sit and be quiet. I try, and then my mind starts thinking, “Should I be hearing something?” Sometimes I think, “How long should I sit quietly?” I think a variety of other things while I sit there and try to just be still with the Lord. Oh, I also often think, “Am I doing this correctly?” Guess what, there is no correct way to sit with the Lord. So, yes, you are doing it correctly. Just in case you ask yourself the same question. Why is it so hard for us to sit and be with our Lord in silence?

I do not have an answer for you. I think that is something that we should all ask ourselves. For me, I think it is that I always want to be doing things for others. I am someone who loves to serve. So, when I am just sitting there, I feel like there is something else I should be doing for the Lord, not just sitting with him. I should be doing a prayer, a rosary, praising, worshiping, something. All of these things are good to do. I am sure God loves it when we do those things. But as He stated above, he also needs us to just sit with Him. He wants us to do this each and every day.

Being silent with the Lord each day does not have to become something burdensome. You do not need to feel as if you suddenly have to add an hour of quiet time into your already over-scheduled day. This could be 5 minutes, while you wait for your coffee to brew in the morning. You could give God 10 minutes while you are in the shower. All He is asking you for is to spend some part of your day with Him in silence. Do you have a commute that you could share with the Lord, or what about a few minutes in between meetings? Take a look at your schedule and see where you could find a few minutes to sit with the Lord and just be silent.

How much would you love God to “enter into your heart and spirit and heal the things that hurt you”? I for one would love that! I loved this reminder that it is important to sit in the silence. I am hoping that this message serves as a reminder to myself and to anyone listening that we don’t need to fill every minute of the day will noise. The message talks about God coming in the silence, into our hearts, to heal us. Another great thing that happens in the silence a lot of times is that you can gain clarity on your life, your decisions, whatever it is that is weighing on you. God can put your mind at ease and can guide you in the right direction if you give Him the chance. If we need an answer to something in this day and age most people use the internet and “google” the answer or we “ask Siri.” How many times a day have you searched for an answer to a question on the internet or by asking a friend/coworker? How many times have you asked God the most important questions and then sat with Him and listened for an answer?

Dear heavenly father I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord we want nothing more than for you to come into our hearts and heal all that hurts us. Help us to be silent so you can do this. Help us to limit our chatter. Lord Jesus, help us to learn to love the silence. Help us to look at our schedules and set aside 5 minutes a day to listen to what you have to tell us. We ask you for so much Lord Jesus, and yet we don’t always think to listen in return. We are so sorry for all the chatter. You are so amazing and we love you so much. We are so thankful for all you do. Lord, you know that we are a broken people so we thank you for the gentle reminders of what you need from us. Lord, we welcome you into our hearts and we thank you for healing our wounds. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.