If You're Never Silent, You'll Never Hear

I have a very energetic four year old. He never stops talking or moving. I am continually yelling out instructions like, "Don't eat that!" "Why are you moving the couch?" "How did you get your sister up there?"

Most of the time, my despondent cries go unheeded. It's not that he's a bad kid - far from it. The truth is, if you're never silent or still, it's hard to hear.

 

Is this how God feels about me? Do I hear Him when He speaks?

 

In response to this conviction, I have been trying to practice the discipline of silence. For ten minutes at the end of my morning prayer time, I try not to talk - no easy task for an extrovert who talks for a living.

 

Within seconds, my mind begins to wander. I pull it back. I focus on God, inviting the Holy Spirit to speak - and then once again, I discover that my mind has drifted off.

 

Why is it so hard for me to be silent?

 

Partly, it's the world I'm living in. We are addicted to entertainment and technology. Our phones keep us continually stimulated, and this is rewiring our brains. Have we become incapable of stillness?

 

In addition to this, silence and stillness are not rewarded in our action-driven world. We need to work, strive, accomplish, and succeed. Inaction is for lazy and ineffectual people, and this mentality has crept into the Church. We have equated fruit to hard work and business; the more we do, the more impact we'll have.

 

On a personal level, we can adopt a mindset that says we have to earn God's love. We fill our lives with religious rituals and duties. We are so busy doing things for God that we fail to be with Him.

 

Amid this striving, the Bible tells us, "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalms 46:10)

 

This is a radical, counter-cultural message, but critically important.

 

Silence is more than not talking, and being still before God reveals that we trust Him. It's a recognition that He is in charge, and it is His presence that we need above all else. It's about dependence and submission.

 

It's easy to think that God isn't speaking, when perhaps, like my four-year-old, I'm just never still enough to hear Him when He does.