God in the Wilderness

In "New Seeds of Contemplation" Thomas Merton wrote, "It (contemplation) knows God by seeming to touch Him.  Or rather it knows Him as if it had been invisibly touched by Him...Touched by Him Who has no hands...Contemplation is also the response to a call: a call from Him Who has no voice, and yet, Who speaks in everything that is..."  It is surely this way in those wilderness wanderings of the soul.  In those moments we take nothing with us and we walk empty handed.  Our longing is not for the things of God, but for God.  We long for the touch of the One who has no hands and we listen for the voice of the One who has no voice.

It is a simple thing to walk in silence seeking God, but so difficult to explain to those who stand outside the experience and look with the objectivity and the logic of the human spirit.  To be completely alone and to learn how to listen in the midst of silence is a new and different kind of moment for all of us who are running the frantic pace of secular living.  It is not even something we want to do, but finally we find ourselves giving into the compelling need of the soul to once again be vitally connected to the living God who brought us into being and upon Whom we know we depend for our life. 

 

And, so, with nothing more than our longing for God, we embrace the unwanted solitude and uncomfortable silence.  It is not that we want to hear a Word from Him, but that we must.  It is not that we want to know His touch, but that we must.  Like someone in the desert searching for water so do we experience these moments when God seems to be absent. There is unrelenting desperation within us and a hunger for God's touch and voice to assure us that we are not alone.  While we thought we needed the things God provided, we learn in our wilderness moments that not being alone is enough.