Note:
The spiritual discipline of silence is not an empty void. Emptiness like that could be viewed as a lack, a dearth, a gap, something missing. Spiritual silence, however, is richly full of the presence of God. In the Bible we read that Elijah seriously needed refreshment. He went off by himself (solitude!) and eventually heard the Lord speak to him in that “still small voice.”

Quote:
“At first the quiet may feel like just another place of emptiness. We may even feel a sense of dread or fear that we are going to be judged or punished for parts of ourselves we have now brought into the light of day.

“But if we stay in this moment, eventually — like Elijah — we begin to notice that this silence is qualitatively different from the emptiness we experienced before. The silence that comes after the chaos is pregnant with the presence of God.”  (p. 110)

Source: Barton, Ruth Haley. Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2004.