When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions… Lam 3:28-29 (MSG)
We are all for questioning. Asking questions gets you clearer answers, it solidifies your faith and grows your wisdom and understanding. “Ask and you shall receive” (Matt 7:7) remember?
But there are moments and situations in life were questions don’t help. And it’s one question really… In hardship, in tragedy, in heartache, the “why me? Why God, why?” This question rises up out of the pit of our despair and further adds to the chaos of the moment. I’ve been there, I bet you have too. In those dark, lonely times where ‘why’ is often the only word that escapes our lips.
God hears those ‘why’s.’ He hears and He understands. But while we are so busy crying out why, His peace is trying to infiltrate our hearts and lives, bringing calm and hope into hopelessness. But through all the noise, we can easily miss it.
Silence is a healing place. I recently attended a conference where a Pastor named Ian Cron, (he wrote ‘Chasing Francis,' fantastic book!), spoke about the beauty of silence. He said that in this modern day and age full of marketing, shows, music, messages, phone calls, loudness, the precious moments of silence and rest get pushed out by noise and clamour. In a room of around 400 people, we sat in silence for about ten minutes. Together. Quiet and still. It was so sweet and healing, I cried silent tears for most of the morning. It didn’t feel lonely, but there was a connectedness in the room that was tangible.
At times, I’ve been afraid of silence. What will I find in it? Will it be empty? Or will it be freeing? I’ve filled my life with noise to drown out the “why’s” and the crazy mess in my heart.
But when you enter the silence focused on Jesus, when you allow Him to wrap quietly around you like a thick blanket filled with peace, the chaos eases and the heartache starts to heal. It leads you to a place of prayer. Not the wails of “why why why…” but to thankfulness, prayers of hope, prayers of tomorrow, healing and release.
Is life heavy and hard to take? Enter the silence… bow in prayer… healing is there.