Henri Nouwen and The Way of the Heart - Part Five

Henri Nouwen ‘The Way of the Heart’ An Evaluation and Comparison to Scripture  

PART FIVE – Prayer Introduction - Prayer: 
 
Henri Nouwen states that ”solitude and silence can never be separated from unceasing prayer…Solitude and silence are the context within which prayer is practiced.” 

There is a practical contradiction here between Biblical prayer (speaking to God) and at the same time being silent. When Jesus disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he gave them good advice (Luke 11). He did not tell them to sit in solitude ‘listening to God’. His model prayer used words. And these words were expressed in a context of submitting our will to God’s. 

Words have been given to us for communication, and we are to use them in prayer. Though at the same time we must realize that even with our best words, our prayers can never adequately communicate our true needs. We are comforted knowing that in praying as we are taught, the limitation of our words is removed, as: 

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. (Romans 8:26-27) 

We are to pray as we have been taught by Christ, with words, trusting that He who knows what we need before we ask (Matthew 6:8) hears us. Not only hears our prayers, but according to Revelation 5:8, keeps them. 

The literal translation of the words ‘pray always’ is ‘come to rest’. The Greek word for rest is ‘hesychia’ and ‘hesychasm’ is the term which refers to the spirituality of the desert. A ‘hesychast’ is a man or woman who seeks solitude and silence as the ways to unceasing prayer. The prayer of the ‘hesychasts’ is a prayer of rest.’
 
The literal translation of the words ‘pray always’ is not ‘come to rest’! 

It is not difficult to find the meanings of the original Hebrew and Greek words used in the Bible manuscripts. Strong’s Concordance or Vine’s Expository Dictionary can provide a fuller meaning of the original words used, as English words often are not available to convey the fullness of a particular Hebrew or Greek word or phrase. 

These particular words do not even translate as a phrase in either Young’s Literal translation, the King James Bible, the English Standard Version or the American Standard Version. 

There are two places in the King James Bible (none in the NIV) where the phrase ‘pray always’ is used: Luke 21:36 and 2 Thess 1:11. Taking 2 Thess 1:11 and examining it (this is the only verse where that phrase translated ‘pray always’ is consistently used) the Greek words ‘proseuchomai’ (G4336) and ‘pantote’ (G3842) are used. The meaning for the first word is given as prayer offered to God i.e. supplicate, worship in earnestness. The second is ‘at all times’.

The Greek word used by Henri Nouwen as ‘rest’ (the meanng he intends is to be in mystical silence) – in its original meaning ‘hesychia’ doesn’t have anything to do with ‘pray always’. “Pray always’ means…’pray always’…pray in a Biblical way, simply and with words. 

The Prayer of the Mind 

One of these demonic ruses (against praying) is to make us think of prayer primarily as an activity of the mind that involves above all else our intellectual capacities. This prejudice reduces prayer to speaking with God or thinking about God. For many of us prayer means nothing more than speaking with God…Sometimes the absence of an answer makes us wonder if we might have said the wrong kind of prayers, but mostly we feel taken, cheated, and quickly stop ‘this whole silly thing”. 

It is quite understandable that we should experience speaking with real people, who need a word and who offer a response, as much more meaningful than speaking with a God who seems to be an expert at hide and seek. But there is another viewpoint that can lead to similar frustrations. This is the viewpoint that restricts the meaning of prayer to thinking about God…Prayer therefore requires hard mental work and is quite fatiguing…Since we already have so many other practical and pressing things on our minds, thinking about God becomes one more demanding burden…

How can we possibly expect anyone to find real nurture, comfort and consolation from a prayer life that taxes the mind beyond its limits and adds one more exhausting activity to the many already scheduled ones? …They wonder how they might really experience God. The charismatic movement is an obvious response to this new search for prayer. The popularity of Zen and the experimentation with encounter techniques in the churches are also indicative of a new desire to experience God. 

There is something being set up here called a ‘straw man’ argument. This is a debating technique where a position is deliberately misrepresented, so the debater’s own version of ‘truth’ will appear superior. 

First the idea of prayer using words is criticized as unproductive if the desired answers aren’t received. 

Second, the idea of thinking during prayer is criticized as ‘hard mental work’. 

Then the argument is put forth that since ‘our frustration tolerance is quite low’ it is a superior idea to allow ourselves to be more directed by our feelings, as in the charismatic movement. 

Zen (Buddhism) and encounter techniques (humanism) do not belong in a Godly church, though they are presented in this book as legitimate ways to ‘experience God’. If prayer is looked at primarily as an activity to engage in to obtain needs or desires, then one might feel ‘taken or cheated’ at not getting those desires met. 

This entire argument is made from the point of view of the desire of man, not the desire of God. It is a man-centered argument, placing man on the throne and God in service to Him.
Looking to the Bible for some guidance as to how to pray, we find: 

You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2-3) 

During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. (Hebrews 5:7) 

Here we see that we do not get what we ask for in prayer because of our motives, because we want what we feel is our due. In the straw man argument set up by Henri Nouwen, the real reason the pray-er is frustrated is because he lacks the repentant humility that considers prayer a privilege. In his pride, he considers that God ought to answer his prayers. 

The God of the Bible, in His grace, allows us to come to Him in prayer. What an honour that is, to bring our praises, our petitions and requests, and to be heard! It is an affront to come before Him demanding answers! 

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6)
 
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18: 1, 7-14) 

Looking to these words for our example, we can see that coming before God in prayer, with the self-righteous attitude in the ‘straw man’ argument Henri Nouwen gave, isn’t going to get his prayers answered because of his attitude, not his method of prayer! 

…Real prayer comes from the heart. It is about this prayer of the heart that the Desert Fathers teach us.
 
From a Biblical perspective, ‘real prayer’ comes from repentance and humility before an all-powerful God. It does not come from a heart seeking personal fulfillment, however righteous-sounding an argument may be made. 

The Prayer of the Heart
 
…Prayer is standing before the presence of God with the mind in the heart; that is, at that point of our being where there are no divisions or distinctions and where we are totally one.
 
Prayer can never make a person ‘one’ with God. When Christ returns for his Bride, the community of the faithful, she will be spotless and ready…and pure. Just as in Godly marriage the ‘two are not one’ until after the covenant is struck, so there is no ‘union’ prior to the wedding feast of the Lamb! 

Isaac the Syrian writes: ‘Try to enter the treasure chamber…that is within you and then you will discover the treasure chamber of heaven. For they are one and the same. If you succeed in entering one, you will see both. The ladder to this Kingdom is hidden inside you, in your soul. If you wish your soul clean of sin you will see there the rungs of the ladder which you may climb.’ 

We cannot cleanse our hearts from sin by looking within. We need to look without – to Christ, and trust in him ALONE. We cannot trust what comes out of our own will. The word translated ‘heart’ both in Hebrew and Greek does not refer to the emotions, but the will or mind of man. A man’s ‘heart’ is his self will. This is what Scripture says about the natural state of the human heart (will): 

The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. (Genesis 6:5-6)
 
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jer 17:9) 

Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? (Prov 20:9) 

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12-13)
 
This chapter is ended by attempting to show a link between mystical prayer and a pure heart.


Prayer and Ministry 

In this section the advice is given to quietly repeat a single word that holds some meaning for you, in order to create an inner stillness, to move to what the book calls the center of your being, where you will hear the ‘voice of God’. It is best, he says, to use words from Scripture. 

The discipline is not directed toward coming to a deeper insight into what it means that God is called our Shepherd, but toward coming to the inner experience of God’s shepherding action in whatever we think, say or do. 

Henri Nouwen also includes a story about a peasant who wondered how he could fulfill the ‘precept’ to pray without ceasing (1Thess 5:17), as he understood it. ‘How can I pray without ceasing when I am busy with many other things?” He found his answer in the words of a staretz, a mystical teacher. The peasant began to pray one short phrase thousands of times. Then, he says, ‘I gave up saying the prayer with my lips. I simply listened to what my heart was saying.’ 
 
The verse the peasant began with, in its context, has nothing to do with a spiritual discipline, or of replacing all prayers with a single ‘prayer’ of a repetitious few words. The verse has to do with encouraging each other and building each other up. It is definitely not a command to mystical or repetitious prayer. 

The power of the prayer of the heart is precisely that through it all that is on our mind becomes prayer. …when we learn to descend with our mind into our heart, then all those who have become part of our lives are led into the healing presence of God and touched by him in the center of our being. We are speaking here about a mystery for which words are inadequate. It is the mystery that the heart, which is the center of our being, is transformed by God into his own heart, a heart large enough to embrace the entire universe. Through prayer we can carry in our heart all human pain and sorrow, all conflicts and agonies, all torture and war, all hunger, loneliness, and misery, not because of some great psychological or emotional capacity, but because God’s heart has become one with ours.
 
There are seriously unbiblical beliefs, brought in as the conclusion and the point of the teaching on prayer. The man-centered focus of this teaching is clearly emphasized here. True spiritual transformation does not happen through our efforts, rituals or mystical or emotional experiences.

True transformation happens when a believer accepts Christ’s life in him, and yields his will to the will of God, following and being obedient to His commands. It is Christ’s righteousness that makes us acceptable to God. 

You thought I was altogether like you, but I will rebuke you… (Psalm 50:21)

Henri Nouwen and The Way of the Heart - Part Four

Henri Nouwen 'The Way of the Heart' An Evaluation and Comparison to Scripture  

Silence – Introduction and Our Wordy World  

Silence completes and intensifies solitude. This is the conviction shared by the Desert Fathers. In such a (wordy) world, who can maintain respect for words? … All this is to suggest that words have lost their creative power. … The word no longer communicates, no longer fosters communion, no longer creates community, and therefore no longer gives life.

Our words do not have power to create. Our words do not give life. Though this is a popular teaching, it is only God’s words which have any power and which bring any life.

"Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess." (Deuteronomy 32:46-47)

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)

Words that do not communicate, bring community or foster communion are human words. Human words fail, lead astray and prove untrue. True preaching is the communicating of GOD’s words to man. That does not fail.

This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. (Psalm 18:30) "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:25)

In Scripture, Jesus warns against ‘babbling’ or repeating many phrases in an effort to be heard by God (Matthew 6). But we are not taught to instead retreat into silence. We are reminded that our Father knows what we need before we ask Him. Our attitude is to be one of trust and faith. And we need to ask for what we need, using words.

It is Biblical to speak carefully and thoughtfully and to stay away from pointless chatter or ungodly speech. The ability to communicate using language is a gift from God to us. The Biblical opposite of many words is not silence, but care to speak the truth God has revealed, and not our own ‘truth’.

Silence

By ‘silence’ Henri Nouwen does not simply mean being quiet. It is the reaching of a spiritual void that is being taught.

…the word is the instrument of the present world and silence the mystery of the future world. If a word is to bear fruit it must be spoken from the future world into the present world. The Desert Fathers therefore considered their going into the silence of the desert to be a first step into the future world. From that world their words could bear fruit, because there they could be filled with the power of God’s silence.’

There are a number of statements here that either conflict with or have no basis in the Bible. It appears that ‘the future world’ here refers to heaven, or a future life with God. Looking carefully at several Biblical references to heaven (defined here as the place where God is) it is quite clear that silence is definitely not a normal state there. Rather, God’s Kingdom is continually filled with praises.

From the Bible, we learn heaven is full of noise and activity! There is no such thing in the Bible as ‘the power of God’s silence’.

When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. (Ezekiel 1:24)

I heard the wheels being called "the whirling wheels.” (Ezekiel 10:13)

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise— the fruit of lips that confess his name. (Hebrews 13:15)

And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices… (Rev 4:5a)

Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." (Rev 4:8-11)

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" (Rev 5:10-12)

It is quite clear here that the place where the God of the Bible dwells is not a silent place! Where then is the silent place Henri Nouwen and the Desert Fathers seek?

First the term ‘silence’ should be defined as it is used in the Bible, and then the definition used by the Desert Fathers can be compared with that.

The term ‘silence’ used in the Bible (NIV used here) has the following meanings:

-made to stop speaking or boasting, to be shamed

-waiting for someone (human) to speak, listening

-silence of death or Hades -silence of utter destruction

-grief, sorrow or mourning -humility (as before someone greater)

-fear (not capable of words, terrified)

-respectful silence, as before a king

There is only one instance we read of a different silence, and it is found in Revelation 8:

When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

This unusual silence precedes a specific judgment, and is notable for its uniqueness as well as the fact we are told how long it lasted. This also confirms the idea of heaven not normally being a silent place.

So where is the silent place? The silence is the place of the dead!

Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I call upon You; Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol. (Psalm 31:17)

If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, "My foot slips," your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. (Psalm 94:17)

The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence. (Psalm 115:17)

The prophets of the Bible, who received Words from God, did not retreat into mystical silences in order to connect in a supernatural experience. God’s spoken revelations were always initiated by God, not by man. In Acts 18:9. the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision, saying “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent”, for it was through speaking that people heard the good news. We are told to speak the truth in love, to proclaim Christ. To do that we need to speak!

Can you imagine if all the apostles had retreated to the desert, with vows of silence, instead of proclaiming the truth?

Silence Guards the Fire Within

This inner heat (of religious emotions) is the life of the Holy Spirit within us. Thus, silence is the discipline by which the inner fire of God is tended and kept alive...implies a need to ‘tend’ God, as the inner fire. This is not only unbiblical, it is blasphemous.

Silence Teaches Us How to Speak

A word with power is a word that comes out of silence. A word that bears fruit is a word that emerges from the silence and returns to it. It is a word that reminds us of the silence from which it comes and leads us back to that silence. A word that is not rooted in silence is a weak, powerless word that sounds like a ‘clashing cymbal or a booming gong’ (1 Corinthians 13:1)

This statement does not have any practical meaning. The quote from 1 Corinthians actually has to do with speaking with love, or speaking without love. Love is not ‘silence’. References again are made to ‘the divine silence’ which is not a Biblical concept of God, but of hades.

It (the silence) allows us to speak a word that participates in the creative and re-creative power of God’s own Word.

Biblically, before the fall, it was intended for humanity to rule over God’s completed creation. We do not participate in God’s creating. Nor do we use human words to participate in recreating ourselves or anything else. God alone is the Creator.

The Ministry of Silence - Silence and Preaching

There is a way of preaching in which the word of Scripture is repeated quietly and regularly, with a short comment here and there, in order to let that word create an inner space where we can listen to our Lord. If it is true that the word of Scripture should lead us into the silence of God, then we must be careful to use that word not simply as an interesting or motivating word, but as a word that creates the boundaries within which we can listen to the loving, caring, gentle presence of God…This meditative preaching is one way to practice the ministry of silence.

The phrase used in this section (and repeated many times throughout the book) ‘slowly descend with the mind into the heart’ is a term for contemplative prayer. Every mystical branch of every religion…Kabbalah (Judaism), Sufism (Hinduism), yogic traditions, Gnostic, new age or ‘christian’ contemplative practices…they all use the same technique of entering the same mystical ‘silence’, and they all have the same goal: union with the ‘divine’.

The God of the Bible is a set-apart God, who will not share His glory (Isaiah 42:8 and 48:11) with the god of the silence.

The Ministry of Silence - Silence and Counseling

Here it is recommended that counselor and counselee together enter ‘into the loving silence of God’… waiting there for the healing Word.’ The claim is that this is the way to ‘discern God’s will’. Yet His will for all of us is clearly and fully revealed in Scripture:

Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD'S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? (Deut 10:12)

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. (Acts 20:27)

The Ministry of Silence - Silence and Organizing

Here he states that what guides a pastor’s role is helping keep people from becoming so busy ‘that they can no longer hear the voice of God who speaks in silence.’ They are, he says, to call them ‘away from the fragmenting and distracting wordiness of the dark world to that silence in which they can discover themselves, each other and God.’

God is not unable to make Himself heard. He does not need OUR silence in order for us to hear Him. He does not speak when WE decide to listen.

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)

If one’s heart has been changed from a heart of stone (self-willed) to a heart of flesh (seeking God’s will) through true repentance and the forgiveness of sins, then one will have a hunger, given naturally by the Holy Spirit, for God and His Word. It will never be a discipline to spend time learning of Him and praying to Him, pondering His will and repenting from one’s own. We will grow in our trust of Him and we will have joy in obedience as we walk with Him!

Henri Nouwen teaches that it is through the self-discipline of our efforts that we acquire this heart of flesh, and that is Biblically untrue. God and God alone gives this new heart. The Holy Spirit teaches, counsels and guides in everyday life, as we work out the will of God in our life through obedience. The spirit that comes in the silence Henri Nouwen teaches of is not the same spirit. The spirit that inhabits that dark stillness is not God.

Conclusion

If we do not come near to God in silence, as Henri Nouwen teaches, how do we come near the God of the Bible in a way He allows, and grow in faith?

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. (Acts 17:20)

Persevere in trials, believing and not doubting…ask God for wisdom, Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…get rid of moral filth and humbly accept the Word planted in you…Do not only listen to the Word, do what it says… look into and continue to look into the perfect law that brings freedom…keep a rein on your tongue…look after widows and orphans in their distress…keep yourself from being polluted by the world. (James 1)

Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. (2 John 1:9-11)

It IS Biblically valid to say that ‘resting in God’ or ‘resting in Christ’ means living in a deep and abiding trust in Him in all situations and at all times. And living out that trust in our everyday choices and actions.