Shhh! Quiet!

Jesus shows us, even commands us, to regularly and intentionally set aside quiet time for prayer and to hear God’s voice. That would be uninterrupted and undistracted time.

But when 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. (Matthew 6:6 ESV)

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. (Mark 1:35 ESV)

But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. (Luke 5:16 ESV)

In those days, he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. (Luke 6:12 ESV)

For many years of my Christian life, quiet time only happened by accident. Quiet, uninterrupted time was pretty much limited to unexpected meeting cancellations or long airplane rides. Sometimes I would pray and listen, but I mostly remember being annoyed that my time was being wasted. I also remember these times, as when super cool and useful ideas would materialize in my brain.

Most of the time, I was careful not to waste a moment of time. In the 80s and 90s, the badge of success at work was your leather-bound Daytimer Notebook jammed full of entries about how you would allocate your time. Time spent working on how you plan your time was even considered time well spent. No one would be caught with a lot of blank space; this could reflect badly on how important you were.

At 7 AM on Friday, June 29th, 2007, I was standing fourth in line at a small ATT store in Hackettstown, New Jersey. That morning, the Apple iPhone Model One was released for sale. I considered the hour wait until the store opened to be time well spent. I left with one in my pocket. I was 52 years old. I already had a fancy Motorola StarTAC cell phone, which was modeled after the flip-open communicator used in the Star Trek TV show. The iPhone featured a digital calendar. That is what I wanted with all of its portable connectivity to the World Wide Web.

Surprise! There is a conspiracy in the world. And a few half-truths are out there as well. Jesus, of course, knew about this when he commanded us how to pray and how to hear God. He also knows quite a bit about how our bodies work and was an example of how to get the most out of them.

Diligent application of oneself to tasks is necessary to get things done. And God certainly wants us to get things done. The scriptures teach us the other half of this half-truth: that quiet time is also necessary and not just for prayer and hearing from God. Intentional, regular quiet time is when innovative ideas are discovered, when a strategy to solve a difficult problem emerges, and when we take the essential time to check and reset our love order. I suspect those things are hearing from God as well.

If Jesus had come to earth as one of us in this century, he would probably not watch TV very much or gaze at his smartphone very often. Be encouraged, you can find the time for quiet time. Perhaps put it in your calendar.