Silence In the Presence of God

Silence in the presence of God gives God an opportunity to speak to us and through our silence we speak to God.  Often in prayer, we spend most of our time talking to God about what concerns us. As a result, we fail to perceive what matters most to God.

How important is it to spend time in silence before God?  Just before Jesus was betrayed, Matthew tells us that "he fell on his face, and prayed...he went away again, the second time and prayed...went away again, and prayed the third time" Matthew 26:39, 42, 44). Three separate times of prayer each time according to Matthew and Luke lasted about an hour.  What was the content of Jesus' prayer during these three hours of prayer? "O, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39).  Matthew records that Jesus prayed these same basic words three times.

Take a moment and read the content of Jesus' prayer. Read it slowly. Time yourself. No matter how slowly you read what Jesus prayed the time is about 15 seconds.  Now what did Jesus pray for the other 59 minutes and 45 seconds? Let's consider the options.

One, the words recorded are a synopsis of his prayer that was about an hour in time. This doesn't seem to be a likely explanation in light of the way Matthew records the content of Jesus' prayer.  Two, it is part of His prayer. It was all the disciples heard before falling asleep.  Again the context in Matthew also negates this possibility.  The third possible explanation is that the words recorded by Matthew are the entire content of what He prayed.  That means for 59 minutes and 45 seconds Jesus was silent in the presence of His Father. 

Why the silence?  First, it was a silence of confirmation. He knew the will of the Father. There was no need to continue in prayer.  Second, there was the Father's silence, the silence of affirmation.  The Son's mission did not change because of the character of the Father.  He is immutable, unchanging. 

Finally, we have the silence of the Son in response to His Father's silence.  His silence indicated trust. His Father would keep His word. He promised to resurrect His Son and to exalt Him (Hebrews 12:1,2). There is intimacy in silence. "My Father" is the way He addressed the Father.  We are only comfortable with silence when we are in the presence of someone we know in an intimate way. Finally there was in Jesus' silence an attitude of submission.  No need to continue to plead in an attempt to change the Father's mind.  He knew the Father's will and His loving response was to be obedient.

It is important that we learn to wait in silence when we are in the presence of our Heavenly Father. There is a time to speak but the is also a very important place for silence.  Silence can be more articulate that words.