Enjoy the Silence : A 30- Day Experiment in Listening to God

by Maggie Robbins and Duffy Robbins

• ISBN13: 9780310259916
• ISBN10: 0310259916
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-09-01
• Publisher: Youth Specialties

Summary

- Deepen your experience with Scripture- Discover the power of God's Word- Is the Bible speaking to you?- Learning to listen to Scripture- Listen to what God's Word is saying to youPeople talk about the power of the Bible, but sometimesScripture just looks like normal words. However, insidethese thin, innocent-looking pages is the divinerevelation of a God who wants you to hear him.Enjoy the Silenceis about the spiritual discipline of LectioDivina. This ancient practice can help you develop anawareness of God's presence and power found in theBible. The book's simple exercises take you through theprocess of reading Scripture, meditating on Scripture,listening to God through Scripture, and responding toScripture.If you feel like you've been reading the Bible in theshallow end, it's time to start scaling the cliffs and getready to plunge headlong into the deep experience ofGod's Word.

Table of Contents

Wholly Listening	p. 7
How to Use This Book	p. 21
Daily Entries
Luke 8:4-15	p. 26
Jeremiah 31:16-25	p. 30
Isaiah 6:1-8	p. 32
Hebrews 4:12-16	p. 35
Psalm 23:1-6	p. 39
John 13:1-5, 23	p. 42
Exodus 4:1-5	p. 44
Matthew 12:9-13	p. 47
Isaiah 43:15-21	p. 50
Jeremiah 3:11-22	p. 53
Jeremiah 23:16-24	p. 57
Exodus 3:1-6	p. 60
Psalm 46:1-11	p. 62
Luke 13:11-13	p. 65
Jeremiah 31:31-34	p. 68
Philippians 3:7-14	p. 72
1 Samuel 7:5-13	p. 76
James 1:2-8, 12	p. 79
Genesis 22:1-14	p. 82
Luke 22:54-62	p. 86
Genesis 1:26-31	p. 89
Psalm 37:3-7	p. 92
John 20:11-18	p. 95
Psalm 40:1-17	p. 98
Jeremiah 20:7-13	p. 102
Luke 19:1-10	p. 106
Psalm 34:1-18	p. 109
John 13:5-11	p. 113
Matthew 15:22-28	p. 115
Psalm 100:1-5	p. 119
Afterword: The Day After Thirty	p. 123
Scripture Index	p. 128
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Enjoy the Silence: A 30-Day Experiment in Listening to God
Copyright 2005 by Maggie Robbins & Duffy Robbins
Youth Specialties Products, 300 South Pierce Street, El Cajon, CA 92020 are
published by Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, MI 49530.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robbins, Maggie, 1953-
Enjoy the silence : a 30-day experiment in listening to God / by
Maggie Robbins and Duffy Robbins.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-310-25991-6 (pbk.)
1. Bible--Reading 2. Christian youth--Religious life. I. Robbins,
Duffy. II. Title.
BS617.R55 2005
242’.63--dc22
2005010112
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible:
New International Version (North American Edition), copyright 1973, 1978, 1984
by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
“Word” by Madeleine L’Engle. From Lines Scribbled on An Envelope While
Riding the 104 Bus by Madeleine L’Engle. Copyright 1969 by Crosswicks, Ltd.
Reprinted by permission of Lescher & Lescher, Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic,
mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other-(except for brief quotations in printed
reviews) without the prior permission of the publisher.
Web site addresses listed in this book were current at the time of publication. Please
contact Youth Specialties via e-mail ([e-mail]) to
report URLs that are no longer operational and replacement URLs if available.
Editorial direction by Doug Davidson
Edited by Randy Southern
Proofread by Ivy Beckwith and Anna Hammend
Cover design by Burnkit
Interior design by Mark Novelli, IMAGO MEDIA
Printed in the United States
05 06 07 08 09 10 / DCI / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CHAPTER ONE
WHOLLY LISTENING
We’d been to this church several times, so the offer didn’t
catch either of us totally off guard. On the other occasions
I had spoken at Mount Oak Church in suburban
Washington, D.C., Maggie and I had opportunities to meet
some of the folks in the congregation. We knew many of
them held important and interesting government jobs.
It was not unusual on a Sunday morning to be ushered
to your seat by a Pentagon consultant, listen to a
testimony by an FBI agent, or hear an offertory solo by a
congressional aide.
But Steve Evans had a particularly intriguing job. He
was in charge of all Secret Service agents working in the
White House.
He approached us after the Sunday evening service
and offered an invitation. He said he would like the two of
us to come to the White House the next morning to meet
the president of the United States.
Of course we were blown away. We couldn’t believe it.
We just kept thinking, “Gosh, what a treat this will be for
the president!” So we said, “Great, let’s do it!”
Standing in the back of the church, we worked
through the logistics of the next morning. Steve made it
very clear we needed to meet him at the west gate of the
White House promptly at 7:30 a.m.—and we had to be out
by 8:15 a.m. It seems there was a cabinet meeting scheduled
for 8:15, and Steve had a sneaky suspicion the cabinet
members wouldn’t appreciate our presence in the room
during the meeting.
He told us we’d have to leave the home where we
were staying by 6:30 a.m. if we were going to make it to
the White House by 7:30. That meant rise-and-shine no
later than 5:30!
That Sunday night we went to bed at our friends’
house with our heads spinning. We couldn’t believe we
were going to be standing in the Oval Offi ce in eight short
hours. It took us awhile to settle down to sleep, but fi nally
we drifted off.
In what seemed like the middle of the night, we
were awakened by a ringing phone. We couldn’t fi gure
out who would be calling at such an hour, but since it
wasn’t our phone, we ignored it. We heard footsteps crossing
the kitchen floor to answer the phone. A moment later
Carol, our hostess, knocked on our bedroom door and
said, “Duffy, are you awake? Telephone for you. It’s the
White House!”
I opened the door, still half asleep, took the phone
from her, and said, “Mr. President, I hope you’re not going
to ask us to stick around for the cabinet meeting tomorrow
morning. We’ve got things to do.”
I was greeted by an urgent voice. “Duffy, is that you?
Where are you? Do you know what time it is?”
My brain was still lingering in the Twilight Zone, so I
asked, “Who is this?”
“It’s Steve Evans,” was the reply. “Duffy, it’s 7:45. I
was calling just to make sure you guys were on your way.
If you haven’t left yet, there’s no way you’re going to get
down here in time. We’re going to have to cancel the whole
thing this morning. I’m sorry. Maybe the next time you
come to Mount Oak, we can set something up.”
By the time I hung up the phone, my wife knew
something was up. She heard only my end of the conversation,
but she could tell something wasn’t right. When I got
back to bed, she asked what the problem was.
“Maggie,” I said, “I don’t know how to say this, but
you’re married to one of the only guys in the country who
slept through a chance to meet the president of the United
States.”
I couldn’t see the expression on Maggie’s face, but I
knew exactly what she was thinking. She was thinking—
well, she was thinking exactly the same thing you’re thinking
as you read this story: What a complete idiot!
But before you close this book in disgust, let me make
two comments about this episode.
Number one: It never happened. We made it up.
Number two: Actually, it did happen. In fact, it
happened this morning. And it happens every day to millions
of people. It’s probably happened to you.
Not that you would sleep through a chance to go to the
Oval Office and meet the president of the United States.
Nobody’s that stupid.
But people just like you—just like us—on days just
like this one, pass up the opportunity to enter the throne
room of almighty God and talk to the Creator of the
universe. Every new day offers each of us a chance to get
out of bed and spend some quality time with our heavenly
Father. But most of us blow it off for a few extra minutes
of sleep.
That’s a pretty sobering thought. But it shouldn’t
make you feel like a disgusting, spiritually impaired, sleep
monger. That’s not the purpose of this book. After all,
meeting with God every morning isn’t some religious hoop
you have to jump through in order to earn his love. We
spend time with God because he loves us already—unconditionally—
and because we want to develop and deepen
our relationship with him. Heck, it doesn’t even have to
happen in the morning! (Can we get an “

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Excerpted from Enjoy the Silence: A 30- Day Experiment in Listening to God by Maggie Robbins, Duffy Robbins
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