Sacred Silence

When the alarm sounded this morning, I thought it was just going to be another day of routine. I got out of the house by 5:25, got into the car and drove to the YMCA, and put on my head phones and started my exercise routine. To say I am trying to lose a few pounds is an understatement but that is another blog entry. As I was walking, I kept having to turn my iPod up so I could hear my music. Without my music on I just can't seem to be as motivated to walk, jog, and run. Just a side not it is mostly walking for now. I finished my routine with a 4 mile bike ride on the stationary trainer. It was great. All the time I was exercising, I kept turning my music up so I could not hear what was going on around me. After I was done, I got into the car and turned on the radio and listened to the days events already starting to unfold.

I went home and showered and got dressed for the day. I felt good because I had worked out and prayed while I was walking and biking and lifting weights. IBut then, that is when God began to speak something into my spirit. Did I really hear Him or was I just responding to the songs that were playing on my iPod? I pondered that as I came to the office. As I walked into my office and shut the door, I noticed that it was totally quiet on my side of the church. There were no traffic sounds and no office machine sounds, no computer sounds, and no phones ringing. Then my mind went to scripture. "There came a mighty earthquake, but the Lord was not in it. There came a mighty wind and the Lord was not in it. There came a fire storm and the Lord was not in it, but then a still small voice came and I covered my face and went out to meet the Lord. "

How many times do we try to block out the noise of the world who is calling to us. How many times to we blast the praise music when the master is standing right beside us? How often do we miss the very presence of God because we cannot quiet ourself and open our ears to hear what He is saying to us? We can have the sacred songs playing and that is great. We can flood our mind with God inspired praise and worship music and that is great, but there is something to be said for the sacred silence that we get from silencing the cellphone, turning off the iPod, and stepping away from the computer so we can hear the voice of God calling to us. The still small voice of a true gentleman who will never raise his voice to get his point across when gentle persuasion will get the message across to us just fine. We just have to be ready to listen.

As we listen, prepare to be refreshed. Prepare to be renewed. Prepare to be in awe of the very intimate presence of God. God wants to communicate to us in bigger ways and better ways that lead to closeness with Him. We can experience him bigger than we could ever imagine if we just from time to time seek the sacred silence.