silence.

why is silence so hard to deal with? why is it so much easier for us to live our lives with a lot of things going on all the time than to just be in silence? do i surround myself with noise intentionally? why? do i expect God's voice to be spectacular? can i even hear God's voice? do i wish that his voice was louder in my own life? is there a correlation between silence and my ability to evaluate my heart? do i like noise so i dont have to look at that aspect of my life? is it possible that i have been listening for God in the wrong places?

these are some of the things that we talked about today during our first session of RA training. i didnt know what was going to happen or how it was going to go down, but God totally messed me up. as i walked up there to begin the session, i knew that i was going to lose it. and as soon as i opened my mouth, sure enough, i started crying. this is something that i have failed to think about or meditate on in my own life. we are surrounded by noise all the time and we fail so often to just sit and be quiet before our Maker. why do we not want to be quiet? is it because we are afraid of what we might hear? is it because we are afraid of what we might find? do we want to face the reality of it all? i think these are all true. Psalm 4:4 says, "Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your bed, and be silent." i think the Psalmist here was telling us all that sometimes we have to look at ourselves to our very core. and sometimes we may not like what we find. but notice how they told us to do it. in silence. often times Jesus himself would get away from the masses and spend time alone defined by silence. yes, He would step away to pray, but i can assure you that part of His prayer time was most likely spent in silence listening to the Father. do we do that often enough? do we do that at all? God speaks so loudly in times of silence. when we quiet our hearts, when we quiet our minds, and when we quiet our spirit. God will speak to us if we are listening.

1 Kings 19:11-13 says,

"The LORD said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.' Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave."

elijah placed himself in a position to hear the voice of God. he didnt know how it was going to happen, but he was ready. he made that choice. and scripture says that he wasnt in the magnificent things defined by human standards (eg. the wind, fire, and earthquake); but rather, God spoke to him in a whisper. now some translators would define this whisper as shear silence.

silence.

God spoke to elijah in the silence. (repetition is good.) and elijah was brought to a place of intense awe of the Lord. he had to cover his face because God's presence and voice was so overwhelming for him. thats straight up power right there. and it all came in the silence.

so are you searching for God to speak to you in the wind, fire or earthquake? or to put it in today's standards, the next sermon, self help book, or journal article? not to nullify any of those things because God can and has used them for his glory. but i feel that sometimes it's when we spend time alone with Him, just you and Him, that He speaks the loudest in our lives.

challenge: spend some time alone with your Maker. with no distractions. quiet your hearts and listen. just listen.