Sheer Silence

I sit here at my computer, gently tapping the keys as I type. I slow down my breathing and just sit in silence before my monitor. Silence can be rather unsettling and is something that I often seek to avoid. Personally, when I am sitting down doing something that doesn’t require any noise I turn on the TV as background noise. I attempt to drown out the silence with anything else. During the time I spent at Black Rock, I watched a Nooma video called Noise. It talks about the time that Elijah went up on the mountain and there he had the opportunity to hear the voice of God. He didn’t hear it in the earthquake, the wind or the fire, but heard it in a small barely audible whisper. I think about that a lot, how my mind is always going and trying to figure out my own path and how I seem to throw things at God not waiting long enough to hear His response to it. I just continue to ask God about other things in my life. I often wonder if He is just waiting for me to stop talking so that He can go ahead and interject His wisdom.

A couple weeks ago it was snowing outside and it began to stick to the ground. It was certainly a beautiful evening, but something about it really struck me. Late that night, I was watching TV and the dog needed to go out, so I went ahead and let her out. As I stepped outside there was a stark contrast between the TV and what was going on outside. I immediately turned off the TV and just stuck my head out of the door. It was so cool, because there was sheer silence. Normally if I stick my head outside, it doesn’t matter what time of day or what is going on I’ll hear something. For instance right now even inside my house I can hear cars moving along the road nearby, I can hear a plane passing over and dogs barking and the silent hum of electricity. That night however I heard nothing. The snow seemed to dampen all of the sounds to the point that I couldn't hear anything. The cars were either absent or the sounds completely muffled. No planes seemed to pass over, even the other ambient sounds were gone, left only with silence. It was amazing. I just allowed that moment to really fill me and allow it to impact me. I imagine that was what it was like for Elijah on the mountain. I believe that while he was there, he noticed a stark contrast between the world which seemed to assault his senses and the presence of God whose glory was able to stifle sound and left Elijah in awe.

I think, as Americans especially, we are easily distracted by sounds and things we hear. I don’t know what it is exactly about silence that is so uncomfortable. It’s possible that we hear silence and feel alone so we fill that void with something to have a semblance of company. There is a problem in this however. Without silence we have a difficult time truly listening to God. During my time in camping ministry, I have encountered the situation numerous times, where kids will be talking while I’m trying to explain something. Their inability to listen makes it difficult for them to understand what is going on next, which of course leads to frustration on both sides. Occasionally, we must be in silent before Him. We must let Him speak to us and listen. If we are going to follow after God, we will need to listen to Him and follow the example of Jesus by spending time in silence before God. It is only then can we truly hope to discern God's will for our lives. There are of course times in our lives that we must go to God and tell Him what is going on in our lives, but it is also vitally important that we allow God to respond. We have to quietly spend time in the presence of God, away from the distractions of the world and the busyness of life and simply be still and know that He is God. Only then will we be able to hear the "gentle whisper" of God.