07/27/2018 Hearing God in Silence

In the following paragraphs from Chapter 4 of his book Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? Philip Yancey tells about his experience on a silent retreat.

The author Brennan Manning, who leads spiritual retreats several times each year, once told me that not one person who has followed his regimen of a silent retreat has failed to hear from God. Intrigued and a bit skeptical, I signed up for one of his retreats, this one extending over five days. Each attendee met for an hour each day with Brennan, who would give us assignments for meditation and spiritual work. We also met for a daily worship time during which only Brennan talked. Otherwise we were free to spend our time as we wished, with one requirement: two hours of prayer per day.

I doubt I had devoted more than thirty minutes to prayer at any one session in my life. The first day I wandered to the edge of a meadow and sat down with my back against a tree. I had brought along Brennan’s assignment for the day and a notebook in which to record my thoughts. How long will I stay awake? I wondered.

To my great fortune, a herd of 147 elk (I had plenty of time to count them) wandered into the very field where I was sitting. To see one elk is exciting; to watch 147 elk in their natural habitat is enthralling. Yet, as I soon learned, to watch 147 elk for two hours is, to put it mildly, boring. They lowered their heads and chewed grass. They raised their heads in unison and looked at a raspy crow. They lowered their heads again and chewed grass. For two hours nothing else happened. No mountain lions attacked, no bulls charged each other and locked antlers. All the elk bent over and chewed grass.

After a while the very placidity of the scene began to affect me. The elk had not noticed my presence and I simply became a part of their environment, taking on their own rhythms. I no longer thought about the work I had left at home, the deadlines facing me, the reading that Brennan had assigned. My body relaxed. In the leaden silence, my mind fell quiet. . . .

I said few words during my two-hour prayer time that day, but I learned an important lesson. Job and the Psalms make clear that God finds pleasure not only in human companions but in the manifold creatures on this planet. A scene from nature that stands out as a highlight for me, God “sees” every day. I had gained another glimpse of my place in the universe, and God’s the view from above.

I never saw the elk again, even though every afternoon I searched the fields and forest for them. Over the next few days I said many words to God. I was turning fifty that year, and I asked for guidance on how I should prepare my soul for the rest of life. I made lists, and many things came to mind that would not have come to mind had I not been sitting in a field for hours at a time. The week became a kind of spiritual checkup that pointed out paths for further growth. I realized how many afterimages of God I still bore from childhood, and how I responded to God with a certain reserve, perhaps even with distrust. I heard no audible voice, and yet at the end of the week I had to agree with Brennan that I had heard from God.

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Grace Upon Grace,
George