This past Sunday, we began our teaching series, REIGN.  We are looking at the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David.  What we know about David is that in being the youngest of 8, he was slated with the task of watching over the sheep for his father.  This job gave him a dry, at times hot, but mostly lonely work environment.  He often was by himself with the sheep.  He had to stay alert, and be ready to protect and defend the flock from outside attack.  During his days on the job, he benefited from the alone time to reflect within, and to listen from God.  God used the quiet to grow him into the man of deep character that would prove useful later. 

I challenged the church this week to lean into this precious quiet time.  We need to surrender ourselves to prayer, scripture, fasting, memorizing, and listening to God.  I received this email devotion from Tozer Ministries.  I love how timely God is.  Don’t be afraid of silence.  Enjoy~

January: Personal Life

Some things may be neglected with but little loss to the spiritual life, but to neglect communion with God is to hurt ourselves where we

cannot afford it.  

  January 18   

Personal Life: Healing Silence

And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. 

–Mark 6:46

Very few of us know the secret of bathing our souls in silence. It was a secret our Lord Jesus Christ knew very well. There were times when He had to send the multitudes away so He could retire alone into the silence of the mountainside. There He would turn the God-ward side of His soul toward heaven and for a long time expose Himself to the face of His Father in heaven….

My eyes and ears and spirit are aware of the immaturities in the so-called evangelicalism of our time. The more noise we make, the happier we seem to be. All of the signs of immaturity are among us.

We are seeing a general abhorrence of being alone, of being silent before the Lord. We shrink from allowing our souls to be bathed in the healing silences.  Men Who Met God, 103-104.

“Father, we’ve focused for several days on the need for solitude and silence. Grant that we might not forsake the quest until we have really mastered this discipline, no matter how busy our lives continue to be. Amen.”

“The greatest lessons are potentially learned in the deserts, if one who is in the midst of the struggle listens for God’s call.” Gordon MacDonald