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Thoughts on Silence

Many years ago there was an Outer Limits or Twilight zone episode where a cowboy from the 1800s was transported to Los Angeles in the 1950s.  The first thing he did was put his hands over his ears and exclaim how loud it was.  Compared to the prairie of old, the freeways and traffic of Los Angeles in the 1950s must have been deafening.  Compare today to the 1950s and we have more noise making devices than ever.  Our phones and computers beep and pop and ding and make all manner of electronic noise.  We live in a very noisy age.

There is a teaching, that promises release from the stress of life, and that teaching is silence.  Sitting in silence, walking in silence, just being alone with your thoughts, in silence.  Some have even said that it is a spiritual pursuit to experience silence.  Some Christian teachers have said that it is impossible, or at least very difficult, to hear God unless we are in silence.

When God was using Elijah to bring judgement upon the kingdom of king Ahab, there was a showdown between the priests of Baal and Elijah.  Elijah won when God sent fire from heaven.  After this Jezebel made threats against Elijah, he ran and ran and ran and came to a cave.  Many great signs occurred in the mouth of the cave, but God was not in them.  Instead, God was in the low whisper or still small voice.  (1 Kings 19:9-15).  There are countless books and studies and devotionals which claim that this is the normal way for God to speak:  In a still, small voice.  Elijah and us need to be silent to hear that voice.

Whatever the world thinks about silence, the truth is, we are over-stimulated.  Facebook, Twitter, and other social media are  called infinite scrolling, because you never reach the end.  There is always more to see.  Our phones vibrate and beep and buzz and alert us to the fact that we have an email or a text or some other notification.  We can spend all our time being notified and entertained and never take time to be alone with our thoughts.

I will not say that silence is commanded or mandatory, but it certainly is a good idea.  If God is going to speak, being silent gives us a better chance of hearing him.  Staying in God’s Word and truly studying it and meditating on it is difficult with the TV on blast and the phone actively trying to get our attention.  Try some silence.  Take a walk, sit alone, read the Bible, do anything with as little noise as possible.  Let your thoughts run and see what you think about.  Go to a quiet place and pray.  Seek solitude, seek silence.

If we could honestly hear the noise we are exposed to every day, the noise of life that we are all used to, if we could hear it objectively we would find it, like the cowboy of old, quite deafening.



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