Daily Devotion

1st April – The Soundscape of Silence

Audio

Prepare

Welcome to Tuesday, the 1^st of April, and the twenty-eighth day of Lent.

Psalm Reading

Today’s appointed psalm is Psalm 54.  Let us proclaim it in its entirety, ending with the Gloria Patri.   

¹ O God, save me by your name,
    and vindicate me by your might.
² O God, hear my prayer;
    give ear to the words of my mouth.

³ For strangers have risen against me;
    ruthless men seek my life;
    they do not set God before themselves. Selah

⁴ Behold, God is my helper;
    the Lord is the upholder of my life.
⁵ He will return the evil to my enemies;
    in your faithfulness put an end to them.

⁶ With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
    I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
⁷ For he has delivered me from every trouble,
    and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as It was in the beginning, is now, and shall be forever. Amen.

Scripture Reading

We continue reading today from the New Testament, John 10:1-10.  Here we read verses 1 to 5, and 8.

¹ “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. ² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ⁵ A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. … ⁸ All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.”

Reflection

Ours is a noisy world.  There are many voices calling for our attention, telling us to do a variety things, go in a multitude of different directions.  To use the words we hear from today’s reading, we might say there is the voice of the thief, the voice of the robber, the voices of strangers, and maybe also the baa-s and bleats of other sheep. This is in addition to our own. It’s a mayhem.

The perennial question we all ask is: how do we know where God is leading us? Which voice, of the many we are bombarded with, is that of Jesus’s, the Good Shepherd?  

“The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” (v.4-5)

How do we live this bit of Scripture, day by day?

We encountered the practice of Solitude in the example Jesus set for us. (See 13^th March in this series of devotions.)  Today, we explore its companion, Silence.  Let us try now to hold just one minute of silence.

…

How do you feel? Are you restless? Concerned that we are “wasting time”? What thoughts crossed your mind? Are you tempted to multi-task in our very Singaporean ethos of efficiency? Are you thinking you can switch back in at the end of the minute and not miss a beat?  Did you catch yourself nodding off, because you are so tired or sleep deprived?

We do not hear well because we are not silent.  Our inner world is a hive of activity, isn’t it?

This Lent, let us be intentional with decluttering our inner space, tuning down, and eventually tuning out of, that relentless buzz . So we may be truly silent before the Almighty God.  And then perhaps, in the soundscape of silence, we will hear the Voice of the Good Shepherd and distinguish His Voice from the rest.    

Can I invite you to another minute of silence?
…

Prayer/Collect

Let us close this time with a Collect, traditionally prayed on the fourth Sunday of Easter:-

O God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd of your people:
Grant that, when we hear his voice,
we may know him who calls us each by name,
and follow where he leads;
who, with you and the Holy Spirit,
lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Link to today’ Morning Office