The Challenge to Do Nothing

This might sound like a ludicrous proposal at first, but I would like to put before you the challenge to do nothing. I have been taking a deeper look into the lives of the monastics of the 3-5 centuries AD. As I have investigated the lives of these individuals, I have been struck by the power these men and women found in solitude and silence. This caused me to look at what motivated this behavior in them. They were, hopefully without overgeneralizing, a people who looked to the scriptures and especially to Jesus as a model for there every behavior and action. These scriptures were just a few cited by the monastics to provide impetus for the actions they took toward solitude.

Mark 1:45 (NIV)
45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

Luke 5:15-16 (NIV)
15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Matthew 14:13 (NIV)
13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.

Mark 3:7 (NIV)
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.

Luke 5:15-16 (NIV)
15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

As with Jesus, these men where not left alone because Christianity in this era was starving to be informed by men and women of true Christian virtue and character. This is what would have been found in the desert- Men and women unflinchingly devoted to being as Christ.

As a result of all of this I have begun a religious experiment with some of these disciplines. I am looking for ways to implement the important discipline of solitude and silence. Have you ever attempted to remain totally silent and still for any length of time? Truly silent in every way? No cell phones, not even on vibrate? No fax machines, computers, e-mails, internet, television, radio, CD or MP3? The sound of your own voice? What about even the hum of electricity in your home? Can you hear it? The sound of a train in the distance? A car backing out of the driveway in the morning? Why do I mention all of these things so explicitly? We live in a time when noise is constantly pumping into our environment. It is next to impossible for us to truly be silent and do nothing!

I took a day to experiment with solitude and silence. I took off to a vacant home of a friend that recently moved and set myself up to spend the afternoon alone. I would love to report that God descended from the heavens and that I heard His voice. The truth of the matter is that I had a very difficult time just being still and silent. I was in a mostly vacant home, but the owners had some items left behind. I fought with all of my might to not perouse through these items. I started off with about an hour of meditation. This was a time of being flooded with every thought about all I had not done that needed to be done! Moral weaknesses and shortcomings, sprung to mind. It was a fight to just simply quiet my mind. Well, guess what happened when my mind and heart were quieted? I fell asleep!- After sleeping for approximately 45 minutes to an hour I awoke and began praying. As I prayed I felt an overwhelming urge to start organizing all the items that had been left behind in the house and as I continued in prayer, I started picking things up and moving them around.

As far as the experiment went, I chose not to grade myself, as I am in the habit of doing. I realized the importance of solitude and silence. I also realized that for someone who is constantly distracted by the noise of life, I fear and resist the result of true silence. It is a place where the truth about my heart becomes clearly apparent. It is this place I begin to find closeness and intimacy with God. Often times it is in our beds, in the privacy of darkness, when all the noise has stopped, when we ponder the most important questions of our lives. This, for most of us, is the most silent moment of our day. It is no wonder that this is a place we avoid by turning on the TV, leaving the lights on or just going to bed at the point of absolute exhaustion so that we fall straight asleep. David had these bedtime moments.....

Psalm 6:5-7 (NIV)
6 I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.

So I return to the premise of the thoughts for the day, that we would take up the challenge to do nothing and wait for what God would teach us in these times.

Psalm 37:7-8 (NIV)
7 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.
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.

Exodus 14:13-14 (NIV)
13 Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."

Psalm 46:10 (NIV)
10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."