The unspoken Word is spoken to be heard only by those who have practiced the discipline of listening. It is truly a hard discipline for most of us. The listening which is required to hear the unspoken Word waiting to be spoken is learned in the silence and stillness. Silence seems to be an evasive thing in a world full of sounds and noises. And stillness is perceived as an impossible commodity in a world so busy we can hardly catch our breath. It seems to most of us that we live in a world empty of both silence and stillness.
Actually, the silence and the stillness has always existed alongside, or maybe within, the noisy confusion that is so characteristic of our life. In some ways it is like a parallel universe existing side by side, or maybe the more appropriate image is to see them interwoven like different strands of colored fabric in a piece of colorful cloth. Even as we step into the chaos and confusion which is running rampant around us, so can we choose to step into the silence and the stillness. It is there for us. The door is open to it, but we are slow to see and even slower to enter it.
It is not that the Spirit of the Living God is unable to speak to us out of the noisy chaos, but that we are unable to hear. The Word He speaks is an unspoken Word alien to physical ears, but always clear enough for the receptors of our spirit. What cannot be heard with ears is instead heard by the senses with which we have been blessed since the days of our beginning. When we speak of reading between the lines, we speak of seeing more than there is to see. It is much the same in our learning to listen for the unspoken Word. Seeing the open door which leads to the silence and the stillness always present in our world is like an invitation to hear what is being spoken to us from within.
Actually, the silence and the stillness has always existed alongside, or maybe within, the noisy confusion that is so characteristic of our life. In some ways it is like a parallel universe existing side by side, or maybe the more appropriate image is to see them interwoven like different strands of colored fabric in a piece of colorful cloth. Even as we step into the chaos and confusion which is running rampant around us, so can we choose to step into the silence and the stillness. It is there for us. The door is open to it, but we are slow to see and even slower to enter it.
It is not that the Spirit of the Living God is unable to speak to us out of the noisy chaos, but that we are unable to hear. The Word He speaks is an unspoken Word alien to physical ears, but always clear enough for the receptors of our spirit. What cannot be heard with ears is instead heard by the senses with which we have been blessed since the days of our beginning. When we speak of reading between the lines, we speak of seeing more than there is to see. It is much the same in our learning to listen for the unspoken Word. Seeing the open door which leads to the silence and the stillness always present in our world is like an invitation to hear what is being spoken to us from within.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment