The Sound of Silence

The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

 Habakkuk 2:20

 

We watched as the huge wall of ice plunged toward Glacier Bay. The glacier was calving. The sound of silence was eerie as the blue ice cracked and splashed into the icy water. The tourists on the Alaskan cruise ship were experiencing a phenomenon of nature. How could such a tremendous hunk of ice fall without making a sound?

 

Don’t you sometimes long for silence.  I remember when my children were between three and six. They asked endless questions.  We took our son, Kevin, to a rodeo in Bonham, Texas. The first cowboy out of the shoot broke his leg when his horse fell on him. The rest of the rodeo was spent answering questions from the precocious three-year-old.

“Where is the man, Mommy? Did the horse get hurt? Is he coming back? What is the name of the hospital? How fast did the ambulance go?” On and on went the questions until I wanted to scream.

Remember the age- old question ?  Does a falling tree in the forest make a sound if there is no one there to hear it? I don’t have the answer to that question, but I do know that there aren’t many places in our world where there is silence.

There are times when our hearts long for peaceful silence. God’s Word commands us to be silent. I think Habakkuk knew that we need to be silent to hear God. How can God commune with us if we are the ones doing all the talking?

I teach my fourth- grade Sunday school students the different elements of prayer. They are praise, confession, thankfulness, intercession, and prayer for ourselves.

Next year I am going to add the element of silence.

We need to be silent and listen for God’s still, small voice. He has listened to us. Now it is time for us to listen to Him. Will we hear an audible voice? I never have. However, with practice you can get the feeling that God is communing with you. Claim this promise: Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know ( Jeremiah 33:3). This is my life verse.

I try to block out all the outside noise and any thoughts of my own. This is not easy and sometimes impossible. Practice helps. Sometimes I feel a special freshness when I am silent before God. I feel His presence. Do I always feel this way? No. But I know that eventually I will have better communication with my Heavenly Father when I am silent before Him.

If you have never tried this special part of your prayer life, jump right in and experience it. See what God can do with a willing spirit. I guarantee that it will enrich your prayer life.

Dear Father, Thank You for being our personal God. Give us listening ears so that we may gain new insights from You.

Janice Yandell