Drawing Closer To God

The Place Called Presence

Listening Prayer

 

Let's begin this morning looking at one of the great Old Testament heroes.  Let's begin with a story from the prophet…Elijah.  The story begins in conflict.  A confrontation between Elijah and Jezebel has been brewing for 3 years.  Jezebel has been promoting the worship of Baal and Elijah has contended for Jehovah God.  The contest of wills comes to a conclusion on Mt Carmel.  Elijah has challenged all of Jezebels false prophets to meet for a showdown.  The rules are simple.  Both sides build an altar.  The god who lights his altar wins.

 

The prophets of Baal call upon their god all morning to bring down fire upon their altar.  They cut their arms and scream… but nothing happens.  After the appropriate ridicule from Elijah like, "Your god is on vacation."  Elijah prays a simple prayer and the altar bursts into flames.

 

Now that Elijah has won, he expects the people to follow Jehovah without any question.  He has proved Jehovah God is the one everyone should bow before.  Instead of experiencing his victory, a bounty is placed on Elijah's head.  Jezebel takes an oath to kill Elijah.  The confused Elijah runs into the desert troubled by his victory, in need of comfort.  And there God speaks to him. 

 

NRS 1 Kings 19:11-13 He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."  Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.  When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

 

God did not speak to Elijah through the noise of the wind or the ground shaking earthquake or the brightness of fire, but he spoke to him in the silence.  That's amazing.  The Almighty God of the Universe, who could demand attention, speaks in the silence. 

 

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This year our theme is Drawing Closer to the God who speaks in the silence.

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We are working on the promise of James 4:8. 

 

James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.

 

That is what I want.  I want God to come near to me.  So, I have to come near to him.  In order to get close to God, we are on a quest; a cruise line quest.  We are taking a yearlong metaphorical cruise to spiritual destinations.  We have already visited the Island of Simplicity and the Port of Service.  Currently, we are in the Place called Presence.  We are living at God's house.  We brought all our stuff and moved in with God. 

 

We had an assignment last week to help us to live at God's house.  Our dots were to remind us to offer a simple prayer at every transition throughout the day.  Simple Prayer is ordinary people bring ordinary concerns to a compassionate Father.  How well did you do last week at living at God's house?  Can you answer our question honestly?  "Hey where do you live?"   "I'm doing better at living at God's house!"

 

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This morning I want to look at the other side of living at God's house. 

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Living at God's house is more than bringing all our stuff to God in prayer.  It is also learning to listen.  A relationship is made up of talking and listening.  We don't do all the talking.  We need to learn to listen.

 

Let's begin in Psalm 37.  Let's notice the listening side of living at God's House in this Psalm.  First, the psalmist talks about simple prayer.  Then he moves to the listening part.  Notice the movement throughout these verses.

 

Psalm 37:4-9 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:  He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.  Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.  Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-- it leads only to evil.  For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

 

Those who can be still and not fret will inherit God's house!  If we want to dwell at God's house, we need to be still and wait patiently and not fret.  Being still before the Lord and holding off on anger leads to this hope of inheriting the Lord.  It is the being still part that is hard.

 

As a people, we are uncomfortable with being still.  Every moment is filled with activity.  Every waking moment is filled with noise.  All our waking moments are filled with doing.  It is as if it were wrong for us to do nothing.  Our work hours are filled with business, conversation, meetings, productivity.  Our leisure is filled with programs, leagues, activities.  Even during our rest time, it is television, computers, books, music, something.  We attempt to fill every waking moment with activity.  There is little opportunity to be still.  The other side of living at God's house may be harder than remembering Simple Prayer. 

 

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Let me share two metaphors which may help us to learn the other side of living at God's house.

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Prayer is like star gazing.  Unless you are an astrophysicist or a want-to-be astrophysicist, when you go out and look at the stars your gaze is not analytical.  It is more awe, than analysis.  Your mind, for the moment, clears of thoughts and you just marvel.  Rather than understanding what you are seeing, you open yourself up to something beyond your understanding.  You are open to wonder.  That is what listening to God feels like.  We stop attempting to analyze everything.  We open to the wonder of God wanting to talk to us!  We are open to whatever the Creator of those stars wants to say to us.  We listen in silence.  We are open to the awe.  We are still.

 

Prayer is like love letters.  In the old days before cell phones, emails, texting or Skype, we wrote letters.  If we were not with the one we loved then we wrote love letters.  The height of being in love was to write a letter every day.  I know that sounds lame compared to 100's of text messages a day from people who are in a relationship.  But it was good for the old days.

 

 After you had written your daily letter, you would go stand by the mail box and wait.  You waited for the mailman to pick up your letter and deliver the letter from the one you loved.  When you finally got your letter, it is not so much the content of what was said, as the connection to the writer.  Love letters were more than information...  they were a bond which tied two people together. 

 

Listening Prayer is more of that kind of thing.  Yes, you listen to what is being said, but the relationship is what dominates the flavor of the communication.  We listen for the love of God along with the message of God.

 

1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

 

Living at God's house is gazing at stars and waiting for love letters!  Living at God's house is Simple Prayer but it is also Listening Prayer. 

 

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How does this work?  How do I do the other side of living at God's house; listening?

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 Let me speak to what I mean by listening to God.  Although God could speak to us like he did Moses from a burning bush, "I am who I am!"  God could speak to us from a cloud as he did to the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration and scare the whoopee-John out of us.  God could speak to us as he did to John on the island of Patmos in a vision.  God can and does speak anyway he wants.  But, typically, God speaks quietly to us by bringing our attention to the things he wants us to pay attention to.  I believe in Listening Prayer he speaks through our thoughts; bringing to our minds the ideas he wants us to hear.  When we are quiet, he tells us he loves us and shares with us our missions.  I am not talking hearing voices or anything like that.  I am talking about placing thoughts in our thinking.  It is a subtle thing; a quiet thing.

 

 There are three practices that can help with Listening Prayer.

 

-Solitude

 

Matthew 6:6-8 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  "When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."

 

Listening Prayer is done alone.  It is not a group activity.  It is solo time.  It is quiet time.

 

-The second practice is silence.  It is the stilling of activity.  It is the stopping of prayers.  We don't enter Listening Prayer with requests, as we do in Simple Prayer or even thanksgiving or praise.  We come with no agenda… but to listen for his voice.  We don't control the direction of the conversation rather we let God bring up the subjects.

                                                                                                                                                       

-Third, is letting go of distractions.  It is difficult to focus on God when our mind is cluttered with so many concerns.  So, as we attempt to be still, we bring each distraction to God and give it to him and work on being still to listen.  We need to ask is this what God is talking about, or is it a distraction.  Each time another thought or concern or something we have to go do comes up we give it to God.  We don't suppress it or deny it but give it up and then return to the stillness.

 

Solitude, silence and letting go may lead to God sharing.   Or it may be the comfortable silence of old friends. 

 

Anthony Bloom tells the story of an elderly woman who had been working with all her might but without ever seeing God's presence.  She was given the advice to go to her room each day and for 15 minutes knit before the face of the Lord.  Don't say one word of prayer just knit and enjoy the peace in your room.  The old woman first thought was, "O how nice.  I have fifteen minutes during which I can do nothing without feeling guilty."  In time, however, she began to enter the silence created by her knitting.  Soon she perceived that this silence was not simply an absence of noise, but that the silence had substance.  It was not absence of something but presence of something.  As she continued this practice she discovered that at the heart of the silence there was He who is all stillness, all peace, all poise.  She let go of her tightfisted efforts to enter God's presence and by doing so discovered God was already present.

 

Solitude, Silence & letting go are practices which lead to listening.

 

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Let's use our dots.

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It is pretty straight forward.  Pick a time of solitude this week and be still and listen.  Spend at least 15 minutes, more if you are able.

 

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Let's go back to Elijah.

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God spoke to Elijah in the silence.  God was not in the spectacular, but in the stillness.  Notice what God told Elijah in the silence. 

 

1 Kings 19:14-18 Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"  He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword.  I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."  The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.  Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.  Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.  Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel-- all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."

 

Here is the point.  Our God is not a two year old who demands attention.  God rarely screams at us.  If we want to hear God we need to be quiet.  In order to live in God's house we need Simple Prayer and Listening Prayer. 

 

Tim Stidham

Los Alamos Church of Christ

April 10, 2011