The Discipline Of Silence Part 1

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. There are times when we must shut out the noises we grow so accustomed to.

Turn off the TV and put down your smartphone. You'll find that what remains is the still small voice of God. To learn more, stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, some of us would not be able to handle turning off the noise of life and just be silent. And you know Dave, there are times that God takes us through valleys of death and grief. And it is then that we begin to understand that the noise of life is not important.

What is important is the meditation and the hope within the soul. That's why I prepared a DVD entitled Finding Purpose in Grief and Loneliness. It discusses good grief, bad grief. It talks about how grief and loneliness, well, you go through those periods, but loneliness has a trap door. You say, what is that trap door?

Well, a man who is experiencing grief and loneliness right now explains it to us. This DVD or CD, your preference, can be yours for any amount. And by the way, today is the last day we are making this offer available to you.

For any amount, you simply go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now, I'm going to be giving you that info again at the end of this message, so listen carefully, and I trust that you'll get this resource that will indeed help you make it all the way to the finish line. Silence. How can we have silence in a world that is addicted to noise? We have to have some input into our lives. We can't be in a quiet room. We have to turn on the TV, the radio, read a newspaper, but whatever you do, don't leave me just alone with my own thoughts.

Some people left alone with their own thoughts are very, very lonely. In fact, there are many people who can't be silent for a moment. They can't even be silent in church. They come and they're not silent. And they're thinking about other things and they can't focus on God because the centrifugal force of their lives lies in an entirely different direction.

They have never been taught silence and focus. Back in the little country church that my parents took us to when we were just little children, whenever my parents went into the church, they would bow and they would pray. They would just simply bow their heads and have a brief prayer. This was their common practice.

It's a wonderful practice that all of us should do. But I remember 20 or 30 people perhaps present in this small church, but my father had just bowed his head and had finished his prayer and lifted up his head and there was a man behind him who kind of put his arm on his shoulder and said to him, well, how many acres have you been able to combine this week? You see, even in the house of God, we've not learned focus.

We've not learned silence. You know, the monks, they left the world for the wilderness because they wanted to do two things. First, the monks were very interested in trying to find God within the depths of their souls.

Now, in this, they were both right and wrong. First of all, God, however, is not found in the depths of our souls by looking within and by contemplation. He is found by coming to him through Jesus Christ our Lord and what Jesus did for us. But that said, once they understood that, the idea of getting to know God and contemplating God was very biblical and some of those monks, after they spent a lot of time in the monasteries, came out and had marvelous transforming ministries. But there was a second reason that they went to the monastery and that is that they wanted to prove that God was sufficient for the human soul.

And you and I need to prove that though we'll never go into a monastery except for a visit. Because let me explain to you that all of life, as one writer says, we are, as it were, being evaluated on a scoreboard. Our wins and our losses are there for everyone to see and the more public ministries or the more public people we are, the more those wins and losses become apparent to us and soon our sense of self-worth is tied to our performance so tightly that we fear old age because once we are in that nursing home and we're of no value to anybody anymore, then we begin to think to ourselves, now what? Now that the mask is over and the charade has been completed, who are we really in the depths of our souls? So even though we can't follow the monks into the monasteries, we do have to learn their most important lessons and that's the purpose of this message.

Why a message on silence? Well, what is important is that you and I learn to live our lives from the center, so to speak. We have to live our lives from the inside out. We have to have those resources down deep within so that we can cope and we can even be at rest amid the turmoil and the tensions and the pressures and the expectations of life where we are constantly being graded.

And here's our problem. Our minds are like restless wanderers that go to and fro about the earth. They flit around. I hope there's a word like that. I think there is.

They flit around. And so if we follow our souls, our minds from one anxiety to another, from one insecurity to another, from one jealous thought to another, from one idea to another, and if we just simply follow our minds wherever they lead us, they will not be centered on God. We must be composed. And what we'll discover is resources within to cope with the world without, living life from the center.

There's a second reason. The Bible, by the way, does say in quietness and confidence will be your strength. But there's a second reason that I speak about this and that is that it's been my discovery, and I'm sure it's been yours too, that it is in those quiet moments that perhaps we do our best to worship of God. Oh, you say I thought that we worship God best when we come to church.

Yes, most assuredly. We've had marvelous music here today that has lifted our souls to God. But it's been my experience that we should be silent before we sing and we should pause before we pray. I'm talking about an idea, a biblical idea, silence that is capable of transforming us into a different people. I know that I sometimes may be given to exaggeration when I speak about God's power and his grace, but I really do think that that is true.

I believe that there are some of you suffering from addictions and hang ups and problems and anger and bitterness and the whole bit and that it is possible for your life to be permanently changed through the precious gift of silence in the presence of God. So with that introduction, I want you to take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 62. Psalm 62. Most scholars believe that this Psalm was written when David was fleeing from Absalom, and they believe that because of its similarity to another Psalm where David was fleeing from Absalom.

If that is true and we have reason to believe that it is, imagine the conditions under which Psalm 62 were written. David, you remember the great king of Israel, he has this son by the name of Absalom who begins to steal the hearts of the people by criticism, subtle criticism of his own father. Now David has committed adultery and it's well known, it's known throughout Israel, it's also known throughout the whole country and so his moral authority has been severely compromised. And then Absalom begins to get some of the leadership of David around him saying, you know, my father's old and I'm next in line for the kingdom and I prefer the kingdom now rather than later and so Absalom foments a rebellion which turns out to be a civil war. Now it is enough, I think all of us would agree, for David to have to put up with fear because he's being stalked.

I mean he is running from cave to cave as Absalom's men are trying to find him. But add to that something else that takes place and that is that it's his own son. So it's a double-edged sword, is it not? The sword of fear and shame and humiliation and the sword of betrayal. Some of you parents who are listening, you can identify with that, can't you?

Because maybe you've had a son or a daughter who has risen up against you, who has attacked you and the hurt runs deep. So David writes Psalm 62. I want you to notice today that I am reading from the New American Standard Translation and I do that because some of the translations translate verse one of Psalm 62. They say, may my soul rest in the Lord. Well, I want you to know that the Hebrew word really is be silent and that's the way in which it's translated here in the NASB.

So I'm reading from my translation, yours might be different. My soul waits in silence for God only from him is my salvation. This Psalm is sometimes referred to as the only Psalm because the word only occurs five or six times. In fact, we could say that it has three paragraphs of four verses each.

Each paragraph has within it in the opening line the word only. For example, you'll notice as we now go to verse five, my soul wait in silence for God only. Verse nine, men of low degree are only vanity and men of rank are alive. So the word only occurs there as well as you begin the last stanza of the Psalm. But my first question today is why do we wait in silence before the Lord anyway? What difference does it make? Well, first of all, because of who God is.

You'll notice we read it. He says, verse two, he only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold. What do you think of with that word stronghold? Those of you who have been to Israel and you've gone to Masada. Now that's what we're speaking of when we speak of a stronghold. A huge mountain and on the top of that mountain there was a fortress. Huge slopes.

Only one small trail leads to the top of the mountain and it is there that the Jews were able to hide out and the Romans couldn't get them for three years even though they tried to starve them out. That's a stronghold. A stronghold is first of all a place of refuge. A place that you can run to and you know that your enemy can't get to you unless he gets to the stronghold first.

He has to be able to get up the slopes. He has to be able to tear down the doors because you are hidden. You are kept.

You are protected. And David says that's what God is when my son rebels against me and when his armies are trying to find me. It's a place of refuge. It's also a place of stability because the stronghold was there before you showed up and it'll be there long after you are gone.

And does not God unite the generations because of his stability and because of his connectedness? It's also a place of rest. God is our refuge and our strength and it is in God that we rest because you can have all of these things taking place outside of you and around you.

But you can be at peace. Now of course we're not thinking of a stronghold literally as a mountain of course. We are speaking of a stronghold namely God. And in God we find the resources that we need to cope. And that's why David says my soul waits only before God in silence. First of all because of who God is. There's a second reason that we wait in silence before the Lord and that is because of our need.

Because of our need. David was very vulnerable. You'll notice it says in verse 3, how long will you assail a man that you may murder him all of you? Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence. They have counseled only to thrust him down from his high position. They delight in falsehood.

They bless with their mouth but inwardly they curse. David is talking about the armies that are trying to get him and he's likening himself, if I interpret this correctly, as the tottering wall. As a fence that is about to collapse. And so what you have is these armies are coming against David and David knows how vulnerable he is. Without God he's not going to be able to make it. Without God he's not going to be able to return back to Jerusalem because it is true that Absalom's armies are stronger at this point than David's armies. And so what David is saying is I need God like I have never needed him before.

My soul wait in silence before God. Also during this period of time I think David was tempted and I think we have a hint in the Psalm how he was tempted. First of all he was tempted to depend upon people, his own armies. And while they were able to give him some comfort ultimately human beings disappoint us. He says in verse 9, men of low degree are only vanity and men of rank are a lie.

In the balances they go up they are together lighter than breath. There are some situations in life where we can't even depend upon people. And we've all had the experience of being so disappointed in what people have done and people that we have depended upon and we haven't understood that it is God once again cutting out from under us those props that we might wait in silence before him alone.

So David was tempted to look at other people. He was also maybe tempted to think you know if I had lots of money I could run and I could do something. Because you'll notice what he says in verse 10, do not trust in oppression and do not vainly hope in robbery. If riches increase do not set your heart on them.

They won't help you either. I'm always reminded of a couple that in the lottery won 20 million dollars. Imagine winning 20 million dollars in a lottery and yet the woman died of cancer six months later. When wealth increases don't set your heart on it you'd better flee to God because all of these things are temporary. So David says that within this context now I'm going to wait on God and I'm going to do it in silence.

Why? Because because he has to renew his inner life with God. Remember that what a man is in the presence of God is all that he is and nothing more. Who we are is who we are before God. So David says I'm shutting out the world as I'm in this cave as perhaps this is where the psalm was written. I'm shutting out dependence upon people upon even my wealth my soul waits silently before God alone.

Well you say well how is this done? What we'll get to that in a moment but before that what are we waiting for when we wait in silence before God? First of all we are waiting to listen to God's voice. We're waiting for God's voice. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 28 verse 23 give ear and hear my voice.

Listen to hear my words. And at this point we all become very very nervous. Because there are some people who are listening who are going to say are you telling me that that if we're really silent before God he's going to give us a new revelation he's going to come and speak to us? Well as you know I'm opposed to those folks who think that revelation continues who think that we can have a word from the Lord and we can say oh guess what the Lord just told me you know what he said to me?

And then people roll off things like that and that is distressing. You know one day a man wrote a letter to me and said I can't believe that you believe thus and so and he quoted me and he said that he heard it in a message over the radio. I knew I had not said that because it was something with which I disagreed. And so I even listened to the message just to make sure and I discovered that he took something about what I said and connected it with another idea and came up with a quote with which I did not agree. But here's my point folks. If I as a fallible human being do not like it when people put words in my mouth think of how serious it must be to put words into the mouth of almighty God.

Be careful. We're not listening for some new revelation but let me tell you what we are listening for. We're listening for God to reveal in the stillness our sins and our anxieties that are sometimes even hidden from us.

And you know my friend we've had some examples recently of people who believe that they had prophecies from God that they spoke on his behalf and they were wrong. Let's not put words into the mouth of God but receive the words that he has given us. And you know God has not left us alone even when it comes to the great trials of life even when it comes to grief and loneliness. That's why I prepared a DVD or CD your preference entitled Finding Purpose in Grief and Loneliness and today by the way is the last time we're making this resource available to you.

I think it'll be of tremendous help. You may need it if you don't you know someone who does who is going through a dark valley of unanswered questions and depression. So ask for Finding Purpose in Grief and Loneliness and the contact info is this. Go to rtwoffer.com. Rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Remember this is the last day we are making this resource available and it can be yours for a gift of any amount.

Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. It's time again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Today's question comes from a man deeply concerned about his brother's moral sin. Larry writes, I have an older brother who is having another affair. He has confided in me about his romantic relationships. Now he's involved with a woman at work. He claims to love his wife and children and does not want to leave them. Of course, they don't know what my brother is doing. If they did, they'd be devastated.

He has a wonderful wife and children. What do I do? I can't live with myself knowing this and not doing anything about it.

Well, Larry, my heart goes out to you and you're in a very, very critical situation. But I do need to tell you, first of all, you need to confront your brother. You know, the fact that he has confided in you, was he expecting to receive some encouragement from you?

I don't think so. You need to go to your brother and you need to help him see the seriousness of what he is doing. You need to encourage him to come clean and to speak to some pastor or some counselor. And then you tell him that if he won't, you will. Don't go to his wife, but go to a pastor, go to a counselor, someone whom you can trust, who is going to help in the midst of this difficult situation. The point is that your brother is going to be exposed at some point anyway. Nobody endlessly gets by with these kinds of sexual relationships. And so if he won't cooperate in the process, you do whatever is necessary to bring some restoration to this. And as I say, with the help of a counselor or pastor, you need to understand, Larry, that people who commit adultery like this, who say that they still love their wife, they are living in a dream world.

It's almost as if they are in a trance. They kid themselves into believing that I can still be a good husband. I can still be a good father to my children, even though I'm cheating on the side.

The answer of course is you can't. It's a lie. Now Larry, the responsibility rests with you. It's a heavy responsibility, but God has put you in the position where you must do something. Go to your brother, go to a pastor, and put this nonsense to an end.

Your brother might hate you for it, but that's all right. In the end, if he is rational, he'll give you thanks. Thank you, Dr. Lutzer, for handling a very tough situation.

If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer. Or call us at 1-888-218-9337. That's 1-888-218-9337.

You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. For many of us, silence is uncomfortable. We want sensory input to fill every waking hour.

We need our TVs, smartphones, and radios. But the Bible tells us to sometimes set it all aside, to live life from the center, from within, hearing in silence the voice of God. Next time on Running to Win, our series wraps up with more on why silence is the best way to hear God's voice. Thanks for listening for Dr. Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.