We
live in the loudest society in the history of the world. We are
inundated with noise. We hear it in our cars, our homes, our
businesses. We shop with background music, we watch sports in
stereo surround. Some of us even sleep with the soft purr of
white noise lulling us away into the night. We lead loud
lives. Much of the time this is not a problem until we want to
hear something else, another sound that can’t find its way
through all the noise. In these moments we can feel like we are
trying to have a conversation at a concert, straining to hear
the words we so desperately want over the din of rock music and
the lyrical whines of the singer. In short, the noise can drown
out the most important things in our lives.
And
this brings us to silence. For centuries it was simply
understood that people of faith would experience silence. And
in their silences, people of faith experienced great things.
From monastics to peasants to kings, history is rich with
stories of God’s voice penetrating the silence. And so it comes
to us. If we want to know what God is really up to in our
lives. If we want to understand where God wants us to go. If
we hope to draw ourselves closer to God then we need to spend
some time being quiet. We need to make room for the still,
small voice of the Lord to enter our minds and thus shape our
lives. Try it this week. Turn off the radio in the car. Turn
off the TV after the kids go to bed. Turn down the radio while
you work in the kitchen. Be quiet and listen. Hear, O people,
the Lord is your God. To know it, you have to be able to hear
it.
Prayer: God, help me to be silent, help me to listen for your
voice in my world and in my life. I need your help. The noise
has overcome me and I feel lost from you. I need silence and I
need you. Amen.
[Text from file received by Phil Blackburn]
