Stillness – March 6, The Third Saturday of Lent

Contrary to what it would seem Lent is a busy time.  During the Lenten season we busy ourselves (albeit in good ways) with fasting, reading, increased church attendance, and hopefully some form of service.  This doesn’t even mention all the other things we have going on in our lives – school, homework, sports practices, jobs, friends, family, and the list could go on.  We are busy people and so often during this intense spiritual time our lives seem to get busier and busier.

One thing that is very important for us to remember during the Lenten season is that just as it is important to keep the fast it is also important to set apart time to listen to the voice of God.  Fasting is a great and holy spiritual discipline (we’ll be talking more about this at youth group this week) but in order to keep it from being an legalistic practice we need to be especially attentive to the voice of God.

Take some time today and throughout this Lenten season to get alone, turn off the music, the tv, and the computer, and just be.  Read the scriptures, pray the Jesus Prayer (from yesterday), and then spend a few minutes in silence.  It may be painful at first, but persevere!  Sometimes we need to be silent before God and Lent is a great time to practice this discipline.  Jesus took the time to get away all throughout the gospels and even God (speaking through the Psalmist) reminds us in Psalm 46 that we need to “be still and know that I am God.”

Psalm 46 NIV

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.

“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

Let these words from Martin Luther be an encouragement to us while we seek to spend some time to be still and hear the voice of God in the busyness of our lives.

There is no Christian who does not have time to pray without ceasing.  But I mean the spiritual praying, that is: no one is so heavily burdened with his labor, but that if he will he can, while working, speak with God in his heart, lay before Him his need and that of other men, ask for help, make petition, and in all this exercise and strengthen his faith.

– Martin Luther, “Epistle Sermon, Fourth Sunday in Advent, in Table Talk *

Closing Prayer:

O Lord and master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant. O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother or sister for blessed are you always. Amen

– The Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem

* Martin Luther (1483-1546) is probably most famous for  nailing  his infamous ‘95 Theses’ to the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral in 1517. With this act Luther challenged many of the established practices of the Catholic church and laid the foundations for the Protestant Reformation. Before “starting” the Protestant Reformation, Luther was a Catholic monk and professor of biblical literature at Wittenberg. Even without this one action Luther could just as easily be remembered for his deep theology and faith.