The Powerful Sound of Silence

It's 5:13am. I awaken for some unknown reason, but when I do I am greeted with the strangest sound....nothing. OK, I can see the clock, so the power is still on....but I hear nothing. No birds, no refrigerator, no cars driving by, none of the rain that was falling last night when I hit the sack. Nothing. Silence. It was weird, but nice.

See, our lives in the 21st century have become so fast and furious, and I might add, so LOUD, we have become uncomfortable with silence. I was at a house last night fixing computers and checking out a tv on the blink--a family of parents and 3 teenage daughters, who happened to have friends over. Dinner was cooking, a water fight was going on outside, a tv was on in every room, each girl had a laptop (that was on), everyone there had a cell phone that played music, surfed the web, sliced, diced and made julienne fries. It was a loud place. When I was done an hour later, I thunked the door on my 88 Cavalier shut and stopped, took a deep breath and (silently) thanked God for the silence for a second, before turning the key to go home.

In the scripture, silence is a good thing, most of the time. Even the saints of old were encouraged to be still and quiet.

David the psalmist wrote in the world famous 23rd Psalm that God made him lie down in green pastures and led him beside still, or quiet waters and there God restored his soul. Ahhh, tranquility and quietness. Do we know what to do with it?

The trouble with us is that when we don't hear anything, we think something is wrong. Sometimes there is, sometimes there isn't anything wrong. We are quick to freak out and blame God and wonder where He is and does He really care. That is a very natural response to our daily dilemmas. But in the silence one of two things should be happening. One, like Psalm 23, we could be recharging our batteries and getting ready for the next assignment God will give us. Two, we are to be exercising the muscle of faith when God is silent and we wonder WHAT is going on. If we're not hearing anything and we are distraught about a situation, we have to trust that God has it under control.

Even David, when in a near panic in Psalm 4 said, "Tremble and do not sin. Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. [selah] Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and trust the Lord." This is the mailman's paraphrase....It's ok to be afraid, BUT think about God's track record and what He's done for you in the past. Then get up and do the right thing--and show your trust in the Lord by walking closely with Him and letting Him take care of the details.

Ps 46:10 encourages us to be still and know that He is God. But I've found that only when you get to know someone, will you be comfortable in silence. I've had that happen with close friends, my ex (in better times, of course), girlfriends, even for very short durations, my kids. When we are comfortable with God, silence won't be a cause to panic, but an opportunity to hear from Him. We learn that prayer is a two way street, we may find that God has things for us to learn there, if we'll just be still long enough.

Elijah ran from Jezebel after the showdown at the Mt Carmel Corral and hid in a cave. He was waiting to hear from the Lord. A huge wind came by, so strong it broke pieces of the mountain off!! Surely God was here!! But He wasn't. Then an earthquake and a great fire...but nada. Finally, the quiet blowing of a gentle wind...and there He was. He finally showed up. But Elijah had to wait until it was....shhhhh....quiet

Oh God, help us slow down sometime today, so we can shut out the rest of the world and hear you. Teach us how, so we become as comfortable as an old friend around You, even though You are the all powerful God of the Universe. And may we strive to be the best representatives of Your Kingdom that we can be, because we've spent quiet time with You today.