Shepherding the Silence

Shepherding the silence often leads us to the shepherd of our heart.

It has been some time since I have spent a morning in silent wonder, enjoying the sweet presence of the Lord as I watch the sun rise and the world come alive.  I have been feeling the tug on my heart, it is somewhat familiar, an aching really.  I’ve known it before, because, unfortunately, I have allowed things, schedules, business, and even people steal that place that is not theirs to own.

{Have  you ever felt that echo in your heart calling you home?}

It isn’t as if I haven’t been reading my Bible, or spending time in prayer, or even having my devotions regularly.  If anything, I have been attending to these very things with focused regularity, I have been determined to spend time studying His Word and filling my appetite on the meat of righteousness.  I was missing something really important that I knew was a necessity… because I have been here before.

Today when I padded down the stairs to begin the routine of making the day start its pattern I heard the gentle call. It was quiet, it was faint but it was real and it was deep in my heart, so deep that only my inner ear could hear.  It was an invitation to come and sit in the quiet, to be silent and to seek.

Elijah had to get in the silence to hear the whisper.

When Elijah was hiding from Jezebel it was there in a cave, deep in the silence that he heard the gentle whisper of the Lord. (1 Kings 19) It was here in the silence that he also received very specific directions from the Lord.

I followed through the motions of the morning, almost without consideration, but I found my heart was drawn to that space where I found the peace in just sitting still waiting expectantly.  I found the cup that feels just right in the palm of my hands, wrapped in pair around its ceramic warmth.  My Bible was waiting in its place,  always near to be opened and absorbed.  The door was opened already, reminding me of the path I was meant to walk through.

And as I sat quietly in the morning’s refrain, waiting and resting in the peace and the silence. It wasn’t long till the aching was comforted and the echo was diminished so that the audible beginning was perfectly in tune in the symphony of the sunrise. That is what I heard in the silence.

We need to Shepherd the Silence.

When I spend time shepherding the silence, I find that I am led to the Shepherd of my Heart.   He speaks to me in notes that are calibrated to the perfect pitch.  The tune plays a crescendo on my heart and I find that I sway in time to the timber of His voice when I court the quiet melody of obedience.  This is the place that my soul is fed, an undeniable power meets my lack and insufficiency when I first come with the eager expectation to be met by His fullness in my morning.   It is an art, a skill, I need to practice often.

Not only do I need to find myself grounded in His Word, filling up on the choicest morsel, but I need to rest securely in the presence of his anointed silence so that I can release my worries, fears, and burdens directly into the hands of a wholly capable God.  All without words.

On Monday I challenged you to Speak Words of Life in all you do, and today I want to couple that with times of expectant silence. There are moments to speak and there are moments to pause. There are moments to think and moments to just be.

But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him. – Habakkuk 2:20

Waiting in the stillness of the morning my heart is filled with anointed fellowship. I watch as creation wakes up and find myself in awe every time.  Romans talks about this awe-inspiring power that leads us to Christ, “ For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20) There is literally no excuse for us to miss those moments of simple worship.

This time that He calls to my heart, in the early morning,  is a time of ordained worship. I simply come and rest in Him waiting for the demonstration of beauty to awaken my slumbering heart and touch my soul.  The sacred silence is something that meets the deep places of me; it fills and prepares for the day ahead.

We have to come to that place of rest, willingly, to find it.

I have missed this time of resting. He knew I needed it today, to mend some tears that have found their way into the pattern of my living and broken through my shield of faith. I needed to release them, not even aware of their presence by name, but feeling their weight in pressure.

“In repentance and rest is your salvation; in quietness and trust is your strength.” Isaiah 30:15

I have never been good at the art of being silent. I don’t enjoy the awkward feeling of being with someone and not speaking, but that is exactly where I need to be in moments like this.  Where there is unrestricted silent worship of a soul-filling God; when one encounter fully restores the music that causes my heart to beat in tune and keep time correctly. This was the daily dose I needed to meet the demands of the day.

Sometimes we just need to sit and listen for the gentle sound echoing deep in our inner man, beckoning us to come and shepherd the silence waiting for the Shepherd of our Heart to arrive. I am so grateful for that silent echo… deep calling to deep… where He is holding on and I only have to rest in Him to get full.

Praying for the silence to melt the places your heart needs to find that encounter and be refreshed.

~Blessings,

Linking up with heart who are seeking solitude in His grip.

Holley@ Coffee for your Heart

Jennifer @ #TellHisStory

Beth @ Three Word Wednesday

Rebekah @ Words of Life Wednesdays

Lyli@ Thought Provoking Thursdays

Cyrstal @ Thriving Thursday

Julie @ Fellowship Fridays

Laura @ Missional Women