“Seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness.”
But what does it mean? What is it that I must do? What sort of effort is it of which it can be said that it seeks, that it aspires to, God’s kingdom?
Shall I seek to secure a position that corresponds to my abilities and strengths, so that I can be effective in it? No, you shall first seek God’s kingdom.
Shall I give all my fortune to the poor, then? No, first you shall seek God’s kingdom.
Shall I go out and proclaim this teaching to the world, then? No, you shall first seek God’s kingdom.
But then, in a certain sense, is there in fact nothing I shall do? Yes, quite true—in a certain sense there is nothing. You shall, in the deepest sense, make yourself nothing, become nothing before God, learn to keep silent. In this silence is the beginning, which is first to seek God’s kingdom.
Thus, in a godly way, does one come, in a certain sense, backward to the beginning. The beginning is not that with which one begins but is that to which one comes, and one comes to it backward.
Beginning is this art of becoming silent, for there is no art in keeping silent as nature is. And in the deepest sense, this becoming silent—silent before God—is the beginning of the fear of God; for as the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, so is silence the beginning of the fear of God.