Seeking Silence

"Stop children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going round..." -The Muppets "For What It's Worth" 

On the mount, God showed Elijah a lot of noisy events before He spoke to him in a whisper. Whoa!

Shhh! Be quiet! Hush! Familiar words to us all. It's the request for silence. Generally, the only time we seek it is when we want to be heard or we want to go to sleep. From the moment we wake our days are filled with noise. From early morning TV/Radio checks for news or weather, to cell phones ringing or pinging, even to gospel music filling our ears, we're taking in some input. Then it's off to work/school, etc., with the noises of the day. We're on the go until we return home late, tired and worn out, our minds still trying to sort through all the days noisy inputs. Maybe we need to add more silence to our day - not for speaking or sleeping - but listening for God. The psalmist wrote "Be still and know that I am God!" a reminder that we should willfully and intentionally seek quiet moments with God throughout the day. Thinking along these lines I can see why Daniel did it at least 3 times a day. It's a reminder of who we are and WHO GOD IS, but it is also very refreshing. Pray on!

Until tomorrow...

Pastor Botts

"But the Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth be silent before him." - Habakkuk 2:20

Sweet Sovereign Silence

See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – all grow in silence. See the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. God is the friend of silence. – Mother Teresa

John tells us in Revelation that when they opened the ‘seventh seal’ there was complete silence in heaven. For an extended period. WOW!

Blaring horns or alarms, phones, TV, radio, gospel music, etc. – this is what most of us continuously go through the day with, often intentionally. We live in the era of continuous communication or input. We are saturated with noise. We rarely take time to listen to or even see God. There are too many things to be done in the limited time we have available. But we must not allow the clock or the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery, full of God’s presence. Instead of powering up each day maybe we should look at it from the other perspective of ‘opening up’ to God. Silence gives Him a great opportunity to speak, and us a better opportunity to think clearly.

Until tomorrow…..

Pastor Botts

“The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” – Habakkuk 2:20

Wisdom in listening

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk. – D. Larson

It’s interesting that God gave king Solomon a ‘wise and discerning heart’ rather than a booming, commanding voice. Hmm!

Silence – it seems like the word is dead and gone. We are now a nation of talkers, not communicators, just talkers. We talk back and forth, often only surface issues, nothing deep seated. And we have to offer our opinion, give our input or the latest update; we want to explain ourselves, tell our side of the story, or just shoot the breeze. The idea of sitting alone thinking things through (meditation) or asking God and actually waiting for Him to answer (secret prayer) have all but vanished and have been replaced with talk or other ‘noise’. We’ve been duped into thinking we must be in contact or in touch with someone at all times. God gave us two ears for more than just stereo sound, that we might listen twice as much as we speak. May we all be discerning and wiser today.

Until tomorrow…

Pastor Botts

“But the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth be silent before Him!” – Habakkuk 2:20