◆
God speaks in the silence of the heart and we listen.
And then we speak to God from the fullness of our heart and God listens.
And this listening and this speaking is what prayer is meant to be.
—Mother Teresa
◆
Where Real Strength Begins
Every single day, I feel the tug. Go do something, become something, say something. Whether it’s my kids, my work, my marriage, there’s a pressure to go lead it, name it, do it. Before I’ve stilled myself to hear or receive something from God, I’m already in go mode.
I wish I could tell you this is a battle I’ve won. But it’s not. I’m getting better at it, though. It’s getting easier to say “yes” to a different pace, a different sort of daily presence.
In Isaiah 41, God says, “Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; let the peoples renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak; let us together draw near for judgment.”
Notice the order here. Listen . . . in silence. Then, and only then, strength is renewed. God’s inviting us into a perspective that comes with the awareness of His presence.
Why Silence Is Where Our Strength Is Renewed
We tend to reverse this sequence, though. We want to make the judgments first. We want to know what to do, who to become, which way to go— and we want it now. We hate feeling unsettled, so silence is skipped, and we go straight to speaking, straight to doing.
But Scripture constantly tells us silence isn’t the empty pause before the real work starts. Silence is where strength is renewed. It’s where God does something in us that noise and striving never could.
I love that this little verse in Isaiah 41 offers a window into God’s heart. After the silence, after the strength is shared, God doesn’t just hand us an answer. This isn’t a transaction, but a promise of a relationship.
Our Father says, “Let us together draw near for judgment.” Together.
How Listening to God Leads to Discernment
He invites us into the discerning. Into the seeing. Once we’ve gone quiet long enough to sense His sovereignty—His presence that is both far-reaching and never far from us—we start to notice things about our own lives we couldn’t see before. We find the strength and wisdom to lead, to guide, to serve, to speak.
Respond
This week, before you go do whatever it is you feel you need to do, take a few minutes to silence your heart and close your eyes. Let the Spirit of God renew your strength. Then let God walk you across the landscape of your life . . . let him lead you forward.
Closing Prayer
Father,
Quiet the tug in me to speak before I’ve listened,
the urge to move before I’ve stood still with You.
Let silence be where my strength is renewed,
not where anxiety grows louder.
Draw me near, and open my eyes
to what I couldn’t see before.
Give me words I couldn’t have spoken an hour ago.
Teach me to walk in the discernment
that only comes from nearness to You.
In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Praying with you,
Addison Bevere
P.S. If you’re new to these prayer guides and don’t have the Words with God book and/or 40-day Prayer Journal, those are great resources for living prayerfully. You can get them on Amazon, the Messenger Store, or wherever books are sold.