Introduction
“When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent.”
Within this short chapter, this line stands out to me…If ever you get disturbed, go to bed. Good advice. But it says go to bed and ponder—not go to bed and sleep. So I can’t help but wonder if such “pondering” was as disliked then as it is today.
A recent study from the University of Southern California suggests people don’t like to ponder much these days. A summation of the results states, “In 11 studies, we found that participants typically did not enjoy spending six to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do but think; that they enjoyed doing mundane external activities much more.”
We would rather do something mindless and mundane than sit still and think. Is that as shocking to you as it is to me? I’d invite you to sit and think about that for a moment—but apparently some of you would get a bit twitchy and start looking for an electrical outlet because here’s the part that is really shocking—and when I say really shocking I literally mean really shocking.
In one phase of this study, participants were given the option of administering a mild electric shock to themselves, which participants received a sample of. All participants said the shock was more than mildly unpleasant, and that they would pay to avoid being shocked again. However, when placed in a room alone with only their thoughts 25% of female participants; and 67% of male participants, gave themselves at least one electric shock during the 15-minute period. The researchers wrote, “What is striking is that simply being alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes was apparently so aversive it drove participants to self-administer an electric shock they had earlier said they would pay to avoid.”
Wow! We really don’t want to be left alone with our thoughts. But why? We might think such findings can be explained by the pace of modern society or easy access to electronic devices— smartphones, tablets, and the like, but Roger Wilson, lead researcher on this study, doesn’t think so. He suggests the devices are a response to the common wish to never be without something to do—our constant need to not be still.
Is this true for you? What should we make of this? As followers of God, if we can’t sit still for 15 minutes, what are we then to make of the words of the Psalmist who tells us God says, “Be still, and know that I am God”? If we would rather send literal shock waves of electricity through our bodies than sit quietly, how will we ever ponder God, let alone hear God?
Move 1
Often we are told—by people like me—that we should have “quiet time” with God; personal devotions and times of quite prayer. These are a necessary disciplines for spiritual growth. And the basis for such is rooted in Jesus’ practice of withdrawing to lonely places for solitary prayer—the season of Lent is rooted in this practice. But for many of us, this advice, this spiritual discipline, just doesn’t work—we’d rather self-administer electric shocks.
So how do we manage these opposing needs? Particularly when this practice is to be instituted so we do not sin, as the Psalmist says—sin being that which is not of God, by God or for God.
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For the sake of our time here, let’s say we agree that better than sinning (as I just defined) is pondering and thinking when we are “disturbed”—again, recommended by the psalmist. What should we spend this time thinking about? How are we to have quite time with God in ways that won’t make us want to shock ourselves?
Well in one sense, there are no limits on that answer. As followers of Jesus perhaps we could spend some time “pondering” topics like… The Sermon on the Mount. The Lord’s Prayer. The texts of a comprehensive Bible-reading program. Or our baptism rituals.
Now I bet I know what you’re thinking… Boring! Right? I’m not being completely serious because I get it—while those are good spiritual topics to ponder, how many of us are really going to sit still and meditate on any of them? So the question still remains—how do we do this?
Fortunately, some have found a way to follow the instruction of the Psalmist and ponder one’s “disturbance”, in ways that are faithful and don’t elicit the desire to self-administer electric shocks. For instance, Heidi Mann, an editor for The Wired Word, writes, “In my spiritual practice I have often found God speaking to me through my interaction, conversation and activity with other people— or through my reading or writing— more than when I sit in silence. Often, quiet, thoughtful reading sparks new openness to the Spirit in me and I ‘hear’ something from or about God I haven’t before.”
This is good news right? Heidi Mann is one who encounters God and hears God in others and in certain activities. So, when it comes to listening for God, is it inherently better to sit in silence than engaging in activity? The short answer is no. But whatever we do, and however we do it, will take intentional effort. But that is where we often get stuck, give up, and reach for the electrical outlet.
So what if I told you this spiritual discipline could be a lot easier than we think—so easy, in fact, that we might just get to a place where we look forward to our pondering time with God.
Move 2
Stan Purdum, writer for the magazine Homiletics, is a cyclist and author of several books on cycling. He describes his bicycle as “a marvelous thought machine.” Purdum says the activity of riding his bike down a road keeps “the need to be active” part of him occupied so that his thinking process is less hampered. Purdum shares he often returns home from rides having solved a problem or decided a course of action or even having had a spiritual encounter, saying, “These things are usually unplanned because there’s a kind of ‘silence’ in this activity that I can’t get anywhere else.”
Purdum says he doesn’t ride expressly to have time to think, but that such “active pondering” as he calls it, is often a fringe benefit of his biking.
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Now I get it. Some of you are thinking, “I haven’t been on a bicycle since I was a kid.” That’s fine because I’m not suggesting you go up to Eddy’s and buy a bike so you can ride the towpath with Jesus. But I am imploring you to consider what your active pondering could be.
For instance, the Metro Parks Spring Hiking Spree began yesterday—perhaps it could be an intentional time of active pondering.
Some of you like to garden—there are flower beds here at the church that could always use some TLC, so perhaps tending to them here at God’s house could be an intentional time of active pondering.
We all love to get real mail—not bills and circulars. There are church members who would have their spirits filled to get a note or letter from their church family.
Or maybe this Friday night—you could gather in our church parking lot with a hundred or so others folks and join in what could become for you a rhythmic time of movement, prayer, and active pondering.
This active pondering can literally be anything we want it to be—it can literally be anything we are already doing. It will, however, require us to approach with a spiritual mindset—shifting from a task focus, to a plea to God, “O that we might see some good…”
Move 3
But maybe you’re thinking, “I ain’t got time for biking, hiking, gardening or fitness classes. Work and family demand don’t leave time or space for extracurricular activities.” And I get it. I can actually relate. So I invite you to consider then Brother Lawrence, a17th-century monk who wrote the devotional classic “The Practice of the Presence of God”.
At the monastery Lawrence lived he worked in the kitchen. It was there he made the intentional decision to pay attention to God’s presence believing his kitchen duties were no different than when he was praying and meditating.
He writes, “The time in the kitchen does not differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I still enjoy God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees in prayer because it is where my life duty and my creator meet.”
We don’t have to do anything different. We don’t have to carve out any more time. We don’t have to choose between prayer, work, family, or electric shocks. We can be in prayer, we can be in God’s presence, we can hear God’s voice—we can ponder with God in any place, at any time, doing anything … if we allow our life duty and our creator to meet in the same space.
Whether it’s on our beds like the psalmist; in the kitchen like Brother Lawrence; on a bike or hike; in a garden; writing a letter; or in a lonely place like Jesus— with God will instill in our hearts the gladness of God the Psalmist speaks of; enabling us to lie down and sleep in peace because we will have encountered, and been with, the One who makes such possible.
Conclusion
“When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent.”
There is much that disturbs us today. And because there is, we, like the Psalmist, cry out, “Answer me when I call, O God…Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.” We all need our prayers to be heard, we all long to lie down and sleep in peace. So let’s be intentional in making it happen. Let’s ponder with God. We can do it on our bed. We can do it on a bike, a hike, or in a garden. We can do it in a conversation, a good book, or in a letter. We can do it in the chaos of everyday work and life.
We can ponder with God, anywhere, any time, in any way and we can find the peace we want and need. And we’ll never have to give ourselves an electric shock. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, May 2, 2021
“Be still and know that I am God.”
This is what we want Holy God. This is what we need.
We want and need to be still, to stop the madness all around us, to pause long enough to rest and catch our breath, to escape for even a moment and breathe in your breath of heaven.
We long to know what it feels like to stand with Jesus and embody his words, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
It is hard to find and have such in our lives O God. We have so much to do, and so many distractions and demands.
But if we are truly honest with you, as we must be, we would have to admit that often we prefer the chaos to what we perceive to be the mundane. We have been conditioned to believe being busy, being active, always on the go, is a sign of importance, and we wear it has a status symbol, a badge of chaotic honor that sets us apart and above others.
Help us O God. Help us to see that if we are not focused on you, if we do not take the time needed to intentionally root our hearts and minds in you and your ways, if we don’t listen for your voice in our daily lives, then everything we do is outside of you, it is without you. And that is what is truly disturbing.
So lead us in drawing closer to you Holy God by walking in the ways of Jesus who shows us again and again that life lived with you at the center is always faithful and always leads to hearts freed from troubles and filled with peace.
Hear now, we ask, the prayers we have to offer in this brief time of Holy Silence.
Meet us in the silence O God. Meet us in each new day. Show us your peace that is always around us.
For we pray all this in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, who taught us to pray, saying, “Our…”