The Sounds of Silence
“Be Still And Know I Am God”
Psalm 46:10
“Be still and know that I am God” is a personal invitation from the Lord to watch Him win the battle. The best way to enjoy moments like this is to sit and watch or maybe better put, “watch and pray”. It’s 1:34 a.m. and I am sitting in my chair in the living room of our home with my laptop waiting on the Lord. I love this time of night (or morning) because I hear the Lord best late at night or early in the morning after my wife and our dog have gone to bed. The house is quiet and as I sit in the dark with only the light from my lap top I listen for the sounds of silence. I am learning that the quieter I get the more I hear. It’s almost a strange phenomenon but it’s true. As I sit in silence I hear the house creaking, the refrigerator kicking off and on. I hear cars and motorcycles some close others miles away. I hear car doors opening and closing and car engines starting up. I can hear the traffic, vehicles of all kinds and motorcycles too. I can hear police cars and ambulances and trains in the distance and car stereos blocks away. I can hear dogs barking and cats fighting. I can hear the sound of a maintenance vehicle on the golf course behind our house passing by as well as the sound of sprinklers. I can hear the faint sound of an airplane flying overhead and occasionally a bird chirping. I have discovered that if I am quiet long enough I can hear a lot of sounds.
The busier life gets the more quiet we need. Jesus enjoyed the stillness of the Garden of Gethsemane where He went to get alone with the Father. I have a chair in our living room that works for me. Having a quiet place and being still allows the Lord to whisper which is how He most often communicates with me. God, I have discovered is eager to speak if only I will quiet my heart and wait and listen. Just so you know I don’t hear an audible voice and nine times out of ten when the Lord speaks to me it’s as I am reading the Bible and meditating on His Word. I find that when I meet with God in prayer and in Bible study He makes things known that I would never discover on my own. Some things the Lord points out are so simple and yet for years I never knew them until that very moment. Other things are so deep that in the millisecond it takes the Holy Spirit to impress it upon my heart I know it will take me weeks of study to unpack it all.
Don’t get me wrong and think for a minute I believe God shows me things He hasn’t shown anyone else. I don’t believe that for a second. As far as I know He might have shown you years ago what I am just learning today for the simple fact that you were willing to stop and listen to the Lord when I wasn’t. The Bible makes clear God doesn’t’ play favorites and there is no scripture given for private interpretation even though some preachers claim that not everything God does is on the menu (or in the Word of God) so to speak. It’s impossible to argue someone’s personal experience but just as true you can’t teach people’s personal experiences as doctrine.
My rambling here has a purpose. What I can tell you and teach you is that God does speak if we are willing to listen. Again, thats the invitation to “be still and know that I am God” is all about. When I sit before the Lord in the stillness of the night or in the early morning hours like today He quickens things from His Word to my mind and He gives me direction by His Holy Spirit as to the things I am praying about and often times as I sit quietly He reveals His will for me even in areas of my life where I wasn’t seeking Him. Through the years I have learned that my best ministry ideas have come to my mind when I wasn’t even thinking about whatever the idea was. Thats why I am not afraid to pray “Not My Will But Yours Be Done” because I know that God’s plan is way better than any plan I could conjure up, for “He is God”.
Do you want to hear God? Do you want to commune with Him? If so let me encourage you to find someplace where you can sit quietly. Invite the Lord to join you there as you pray and open up the Bible and read the Word. Invite Him to speak to you. Don’t try to force it, just enjoy the Lord as He is with you always just as He promised He would be. God doesn’t always speak but the peace He provides in those moments is all the proof that’s needed for you to know that He is there. To me those moments with the Lord remind me of traveling with my wife in the car. We might go for a long period of time, sometimes hours if it’s a long drive without even speaking a word to each other. I never feel pressure nor does she to have to talk. Just being together provides both of us a pleasure all its own and I have found that it’s just as true with the Lord. Like traveling with my wife I just enjoy the Lords presence and being still and knowing He is God. And if by chance I have a question I ask Him, when I have an observation to make I share it, and when I’m not sure about something I pray. When I become aware of just how much Jesus Christ has done for me, I praise and worship Him and give Him thanks.
Yes loved one, the best way to enjoy the presence of God is to find a place where you can just be still and know that He is God. The Lord enjoys those moments we set aside for Him and He always shows up at just the perfect time. Wait on Him today, you will be so glad you did.
“Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD.”
Lamentations 3:23–26
I LOVE YOU!
Psalm 46:10
“Be still and know that I am God” is a personal invitation from the Lord to watch Him win the battle. The best way to enjoy moments like this is to sit and watch or maybe better put, “watch and pray”. It’s 1:34 a.m. and I am sitting in my chair in the living room of our home with my laptop waiting on the Lord. I love this time of night (or morning) because I hear the Lord best late at night or early in the morning after my wife and our dog have gone to bed. The house is quiet and as I sit in the dark with only the light from my lap top I listen for the sounds of silence. I am learning that the quieter I get the more I hear. It’s almost a strange phenomenon but it’s true. As I sit in silence I hear the house creaking, the refrigerator kicking off and on. I hear cars and motorcycles some close others miles away. I hear car doors opening and closing and car engines starting up. I can hear the traffic, vehicles of all kinds and motorcycles too. I can hear police cars and ambulances and trains in the distance and car stereos blocks away. I can hear dogs barking and cats fighting. I can hear the sound of a maintenance vehicle on the golf course behind our house passing by as well as the sound of sprinklers. I can hear the faint sound of an airplane flying overhead and occasionally a bird chirping. I have discovered that if I am quiet long enough I can hear a lot of sounds.
The busier life gets the more quiet we need. Jesus enjoyed the stillness of the Garden of Gethsemane where He went to get alone with the Father. I have a chair in our living room that works for me. Having a quiet place and being still allows the Lord to whisper which is how He most often communicates with me. God, I have discovered is eager to speak if only I will quiet my heart and wait and listen. Just so you know I don’t hear an audible voice and nine times out of ten when the Lord speaks to me it’s as I am reading the Bible and meditating on His Word. I find that when I meet with God in prayer and in Bible study He makes things known that I would never discover on my own. Some things the Lord points out are so simple and yet for years I never knew them until that very moment. Other things are so deep that in the millisecond it takes the Holy Spirit to impress it upon my heart I know it will take me weeks of study to unpack it all.
Don’t get me wrong and think for a minute I believe God shows me things He hasn’t shown anyone else. I don’t believe that for a second. As far as I know He might have shown you years ago what I am just learning today for the simple fact that you were willing to stop and listen to the Lord when I wasn’t. The Bible makes clear God doesn’t’ play favorites and there is no scripture given for private interpretation even though some preachers claim that not everything God does is on the menu (or in the Word of God) so to speak. It’s impossible to argue someone’s personal experience but just as true you can’t teach people’s personal experiences as doctrine.
My rambling here has a purpose. What I can tell you and teach you is that God does speak if we are willing to listen. Again, thats the invitation to “be still and know that I am God” is all about. When I sit before the Lord in the stillness of the night or in the early morning hours like today He quickens things from His Word to my mind and He gives me direction by His Holy Spirit as to the things I am praying about and often times as I sit quietly He reveals His will for me even in areas of my life where I wasn’t seeking Him. Through the years I have learned that my best ministry ideas have come to my mind when I wasn’t even thinking about whatever the idea was. Thats why I am not afraid to pray “Not My Will But Yours Be Done” because I know that God’s plan is way better than any plan I could conjure up, for “He is God”.
Do you want to hear God? Do you want to commune with Him? If so let me encourage you to find someplace where you can sit quietly. Invite the Lord to join you there as you pray and open up the Bible and read the Word. Invite Him to speak to you. Don’t try to force it, just enjoy the Lord as He is with you always just as He promised He would be. God doesn’t always speak but the peace He provides in those moments is all the proof that’s needed for you to know that He is there. To me those moments with the Lord remind me of traveling with my wife in the car. We might go for a long period of time, sometimes hours if it’s a long drive without even speaking a word to each other. I never feel pressure nor does she to have to talk. Just being together provides both of us a pleasure all its own and I have found that it’s just as true with the Lord. Like traveling with my wife I just enjoy the Lords presence and being still and knowing He is God. And if by chance I have a question I ask Him, when I have an observation to make I share it, and when I’m not sure about something I pray. When I become aware of just how much Jesus Christ has done for me, I praise and worship Him and give Him thanks.
Yes loved one, the best way to enjoy the presence of God is to find a place where you can just be still and know that He is God. The Lord enjoys those moments we set aside for Him and He always shows up at just the perfect time. Wait on Him today, you will be so glad you did.
“Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD.”
Lamentations 3:23–26
I LOVE YOU!
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