5 Things Silence Does For Our Mental Health
Are you afraid of silence?
For most of us, silence is pretty hard to come by. Maybe you live by a busy road or in an area with constant noise. Maybe your neighbours aren’t as quiet as you’d like them to be, or your job involves constant chatter or machinery. Maybe, you’ve got kids (enough said!).
But then there are all the things we do to escape silence. We get our car playlist ready to go before we’ve even punched in our destination. We reach for our headphones while we’re on a walk, or have a show playing while we cook dinner.
Our lives are saturated with noise, and taking the time to intentionally disconnect and shut that out—well, it can be kind of scary.
So, what’s the big deal about silence? Why is it considered a spiritual discipline? And can it actually help our mental health?
Yes, actually. Here’s how…
Silence Invites Us to Rest
“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him” (Psalm 62:5, ESV).
It isn’t easy to rest in the bustle and noise of busyness, especially when there’s something weighing on your mind and stealing your peace. And it’s difficult to feel calm when we’re always on the go. That’s why we need silence; to look up from everything happening around us and recenter ourselves in the hope we have in Christ.
When we’re struggling with our mental health, we need rest more than ever; and Jesus offers us that rest as we quiet our minds and step away from the noise of the world.
How much easier is it to rest when we take time to be reminded of where—and in Whom—our trust lies?
2. Silence Helps Us Hear God’s Voice
“The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:11-12).
No matter how many times we may have read the story of God speaking to Elijah in 1 Kings 19, it’s always a good reminder: God’s voice doesn’t always come in the ways we might expect.
Do you remember having sleepovers with friends when you were younger? There were those moments late at night when you were lying in your sleeping bags, whispering into the darkness. The chaos and fun had died down, and you were able to get real with one another; sharing hopes, dreams, big questions, and embarrassing secrets. You shared the kind of things that would’ve felt uncomfortable being spoken of too loudly. The silence and stillness made room for intimacy that wasn’t otherwise possible.
We’re often so busy telling God what we’re thinking and feeling—which He loves to hear—that we forget to carve out the time in our schedules to just listen. God’s not (usually) going to shout over the noise of our lives, but He’s there, waiting for us to get quiet and hear His voice. Even Jesus withdrew to quiet places to pray (Luke 5:16). He knew that, although God’s presence was always with Him, it was easier to tune into God’s voice in the silence.
When we’re wrestling with our mental health—whether that be with depression, anxiety, or any other form of mental struggle or illness—it can feel pretty lonely. We might think that no one else could understand what we’re experiencing; perhaps we don’t even understand. But God does, and He wants to speak to us and remind us of who He is and who we are in Him.
While we’re searching for ways to numb what we’re feeling through busyness and distractions, He calls us to come and sit in His presence and be comforted by His voice, like sheep who recognize the voice of their shepherd and follow him (John 10:27).
God is often speaking to each of us in the intimacy of quiet places, and we have a better chance of hearing Him if we allow the silence and wait for His whisper.
Where are we allowing opportunities for silence in our lives?
3. Silence Is an Act of Surrender
“...it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:26).
There are some incredible stories of God’s deliverance in the Old Testament. Think plagues, pillars of fire, rods turning into snakes, seas being parted, armies defeated—pretty epic displays of God’s power and care for the Israelites and others. But perhaps most interesting is what precedes each of these events. You might assume it’s God giving step-by-step instructions for how to overcome the enemy, but more often than not… it’s God simply saying, “Hey, I’ve got this. Just trust that I’ll come through for you.”
For example, after the Israelites fled Egypt as slaves, they were terrified to see Pharaoh and the Egyptian army chasing after them. But Moses reassured the people with these words: “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (Exodus 14:14, ESV). And what happened? God parted the Red Sea, and the Israelites didn’t have to do anything but trust and escape through on dry ground.
You only need to start typing “DIY” into your search bar to see that as a society, we’re big fans of our independence. And fixing things. (On our own, thank you very much). But here’s the catch: there are plenty of struggles in life where we can’t do it ourselves.
Sure, we might try and “DIY” our way to better mental health with a few more bubble baths, some comfort food, and our favourite show on repeat, but what about the kind of struggles that can’t be fixed overnight? What do we do when we’re facing grief, suffering, or pain that we can’t see a way out of?
It’s in those times when we throw up our hands and say “God, I don’t know what to do and this really hurts, but I’m going to choose to trust that You’ve got me, and You will make a way.” We can be like the psalmist in Psalm 121, who lifts his eyes to the mountains and acknowledges that his help comes from the Maker of heaven and earth. When we’re silent, we’re surrendering to God and trusting Him to move — even when we don’t see a way through.
4. Silence Is a Form of Worship
“The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him” (Habakkuk 2:20).
Picture walking into an ancient cathedral and looking up at its ceilings covered with intricate paintings, or finally reaching the top of a mountain hike and looking out at everything below you. Do those things take your breath away?
The phrase “it took my breath away” has been used so much that it’s become a cliche — perhaps because it describes perfectly the effect that some things have on us. Sometimes the most beautiful, surprising, and awe-inspiring things leave us without words. That lost-for-words feeling when we look up at the stars, or witness the first snow, or catch the first glimpse of the view from a mountaintop is a tiny taste of how it might feel to come face to face with our Creator one day.
When we take time to be still before God and appreciate His creation and everything He’s done for us, it becomes harder to stay focused on all the problems in our lives. Turning our pain into praise gets us out of our heads and reminds us that we have hope in our Savior and that there will be an end to all our sufferings.
Whatever mental battle we’re fighting, may we be like Job in the Old Testament who, after losing everything, was still able to fall to the ground in worship, saying: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:20-21).
There are so many ways we can worship God, not just through music or words. Worship is about the posture of our hearts more than what we do or bring to God, and simply being silent in His presence can be a beautiful expression of our love and adoration. As David sings in Psalm 19:1-2, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
5. Silence Allows Us to ‘Be’ Instead of ‘Do’
“Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
There are plenty of times when silence can feel uncomfortable — awkward, even. And it’s rare to find someone you can be around in contented silence unless you know them really, really well.
That’s the beauty of silence in God’s presence. He knows you. Inside and out. And He doesn’t need you to strive or pretend or cover up or fill the space. He just wants you; your heart, your thoughts, all the bits and pieces that make up you, just as you are.
That might be hard for you to hear. “But shouldn’t I be serving God and praising Him?” you might ask. Yes. But we often get the order wrong. We think we need to do things for God so that we can earn the chance to be with Him. We believe the lie that we’re loved by God because of what we have to offer Him when it’s really the other way around; we have nothing to offer, and yet He loves us still.
If you’ve ever struggled with mental health, you’re probably familiar with some of those lies. Our minds (and the enemy) love to play tricks on us. We start to believe that we’re a burden to God, or that we can’t come to Him until we’re no longer struggling. But that’s exactly what we need to do with mental illness or any other struggle; run to Him, and rest in His presence. Cease our striving and choose to accept His love.
God wants us to enjoy His presence, not just endure it so we can cross “spend time with God” off our to-do list. Instead of looking inward to figure out what we can do for God (answer: very little!), being silent is a way of looking outwards to Him, and acknowledging that in Him we find everything we need. His love isn’t a love we can strive to earn, it’s one that is given freely to us — so why wouldn’t we want to spend time enjoying that?
You don’t need to be a nun or a monk to practise silence as a spiritual discipline. And you might be surprised by what incorporating silence into your weekly rhythm can do for your mental health. When we’re taking the time to be quiet and still in the presence of God, we can trust that He is in control and that He loves us indescribably —even when we bring nothing to the table.
For more on the spiritual practice of silence, check out what our friends over at Reclaim Today have put together.
Note: While silence can offer support to our mental, emotional, and physical well-being, we don’t recommend suffering on your mental health journey in silence! If you’re struggling with your mental health, please consider reaching out to someone you trust or a mental health professional.
