Sunday, February 12, 2012

Listen To God’s Voice

“Be silent and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” -- Psalm 46:10

Silence is a luxury for so many of us. I know. Most things we just sort of ignore, like city traffic and a television blaring nearby. Other things are blessings, such as children laughing or dogs playing.

Still, sometimes we fill our lives with busyness and noise in an effort to drown out the voice of God. We probably don’t even realize what we’re doing. It’s habit. We assume we can multi-task and accomplish Bible reading and television watching all at the same time. We can’t though.

I once had a friend who needed to fill every moment of every day with something. He was a contractor, so that took up much of his week. His weekends were scheduled with tours and museum visits and dinners out with friends. His weeknights were filled with movies and meetings. He never wanted to be alone and he never wanted to be without something to do.

It took me years to figure it out. He was afraid of what -- or who -- he’d find if he finally ended up alone in silence. He was a very unhappy man who tried to hide that from those around him. His frantic attempts to schedule all his moments escalated until I truly didn’t understand how he could keep going. I tried to talk with him but he wasn’t ready to listen.

We’ve lost track over the years but I pray he eventually found peace. Unhappiness can’t be buried forever under busyness. Eventually it all comes to the surface and that deck of cards crashes all around us. Better to face it with God and get through it, rebuilding on a solid rock, than to try and pretend.

It’s hard to face the silence sometimes. If we suddenly don’t have time to pray or read our Bible, that’s a giveaway that we’re avoiding God. The question is why. He’s probably trying to tell us something we’d rather not hear. We need to hear it anyway.

It’s also difficult sometimes to clear our minds so that we can hear God. Julia Cameron, in her book The Artist’s Way, recommended what she terms morning pages. They are three pages of writing down just stuff as a way to empty our souls and quiet our minds. Cameron developed them so that creative people could be open to, well, creativity. But those pages work wonderfully for those of us trying to get past all that rattling around in our minds so that we can hear God’s voice.

Quietness opens us up to all sorts of possibilities and blessings from our Creator. Solitude, when it’s just Him and us, is just the greatest gift. It builds and deepens a relationship unlike any other. As we kneel before His throne, we hear Him call to us and beckon us closer. Lean in and listen to what He has to say.