When I first started working in ministry the whole “contemporary worship” thing was a big issue. I remember talking with a music minister that was in the middle of reading a book on contemporary worship; he explained to me that for a service to be contemporary there should be no down time; not more than 5 seconds of silence.

This is a sad idea.

The other day I stumbled upon Habakkuk 2:20 which says “But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” This verse hit me in the face when I read it and has continued to beat on my consciousness ever since. I am struggling with questions like: what does it mean to “keep silence before Him”? Do I ever have silence in my life? Do I embrace silence or run from it? Is silence before God an integral part of my relationship with Him or something that I drown out with continuous noise? Why am I afraid of the silence?

It seems to me that silence is a necessity in our daily walk with Jesus, and yet, we avoid it like the plague. Silence allows for and encourages reflection, which is scary. When submerged into total silence we are left with only our thoughts and the Holy Spirit’s whisper, inevitably bringing us to some degree of conviction followed by God’s leading. Both of these make us uncomfortable and push us to change, which we tend to resist.

Think about it, we live in a world that embraces “self” over all other things. One of the keys to embracing “self” is to feel good about your own selfishness. The best way to do that is to drown out all opposing voices, like our conscience and the Holy Spirit. And so, since our world embraces “self” it also embraces noise because that helps to maintain selfish thinking.

By living in a constant state of noise we never have the time or ability to reflect on our lives, the good and the bad. We are never really able to asses where we are as individuals and determine how we can improve. We simply live our lives so narrowly focused on keeping forward motion, that we never realize the wheels we are riding on are wobbling around about to pop off. Then, we suddenly find ourselves bottomed out and asking why.

Maybe it’s time for some self assessment. Maybe it’s time for conviction, growth, and leading. Maybe it’s time for silence before a Holy God that not only deserves our reverent, silent respect, but also asks it of us.

Maybe it’s time for the Church to gather together to keep silence.

Please share your thoughts and ideas, this is a tough one…