Silence is so hard for most of
us. We don’t know what to do with it. Yet in the commotion of life it is so
easy to miss the quiet things of God, to hear and know that He is God. We
recently visited a church in Longview, Washington and the message that morning
was brought by their assistant youth pastor who spoke on “silence.” Along with
him sharing about his experiences of learning to be quiet with God he played a video
which contained a lengthy period of silence, and in quietness we sat.
It is so easy to allow the
distractions of noise to permeate our minds and interrupt our time with God. It
is also easy for the ramblings of our mind to interrupt the quiet. This is not
easy, but it is so necessary that we each find these times, maybe not as
frequently as we might like and maybe not even as quiet as we might like. But
nevertheless finding times where we can sit with God and pray, read the word,
meditate, and even be quiet – being still before Him.
In 1 Kings 19 we read of Elijah fleeing from the hands of
Jezebel, and in his fleeing we read of how God spoke to him so that he might
hear before sending Elijah back out.
1 Kings 19:11-13 So He [the word of the Lord] said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain
before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and
strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before
the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And
after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord
was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and
after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped
his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And
behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Just as Elijah’s
heart had been racing and he ran in fear, so he also experienced the power of
God in nature and yet did not hear from Him. But then in the peaceful quietness
of the gentle blowing wind, Elijah heard.
Psalm 46:10-11 “Be
still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be
exalted in the earth.” The Lord
Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. [NIV]
For me, I have to
be mindful of making sure that my schedule includes times and places where I
can be still, and if I find my heart and mind racing a bit then I change it up.
Sometimes that means a stool in my garage and other times it means an empty office
or even a solitary shower. But one thing I know is that making this time a regular
priority needs to be a priority of my life with God, and it definitely
strengthens me for when the figurative wind is blowing hard or the fires of the
day are raging.
Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah
Young (6/15)
When you approach Me in stillness
and in trust, you are strengthened. You need a buffer zone of silence around
you in order to focus on things that are unseen. Since I am invisible, you must
not let your senses dominate your thinking. The curse of this age is
overstimulation of the senses, which blocks out awareness of the unseen world.
The tangible world still reflects
My Glory, to those who have eyes that see and ears that hear. Spending time
alone with Me is the best way to develop seeing eyes and hearing ears. The goal
is to be aware of unseen things even as you live out your life in the visible
world.
So we fix our eyes not on what is
seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is
eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18
And they were calling to one
another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole will earth is full
of his glory.” Isaiah 6:3
I wait for the Lord, my soul
waits, and in his word I put my hope. Psalm 130:5
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