Filling the Silence
Take 30 seconds and just listen to your surroundings. Go on, seriously, right where you are, clear your mind and just listen….
For most of us, our lives are filled with noise. Whether it’s the noise of a busy street, music in our headphones, or the TV in the background, we seek distractions so we don’t have to face the silence. But what if, in that very silence, lies the key to finding God in the silence? To be honest, most often, the noise is comforting, right? Because the noise is there, we don’t have to be alone with our thoughts, or our apartment doesn’t feel empty.
We find ourselves constantly trying to fill the silence, yet it is precisely in the silence that the profound truth of finding God in the silence emerges. It is within these quiet moments that God speaks and reveals Himself most often.
The Prophet Elijah knew this better than anyone. In the scene where he is going up against the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18), God does something incredible. The prophets of Baal tried to get Baal to reveal himself by using loud chanting, singing, dancing, and crying out. For hours and hours. It was in the moment that everyone and everything got still that the one true God revealed Himself.
Can you imagine this moment? Elijah walks up to the altar with hundreds of people around, looking on in complete silence and anticipation of what might happen. Instead of a team of people dancing and causing a commotion, Elijah knelt and began to pray quietly. Then out of the silence (probably the occasional cough, because there is always that guy or a baby crying), BOOM, a column of fire comes from the sky and consumes the altar! Elijah’s God, the one TRUE GOD, exists and is all-powerful.
Fast forward to chapter 19 of 1 Kings, Elijah runs for his life and is hiding out in a cave, all alone. God wants to reveal Himself to Elijah and calls him out of the cave. Elijah experiences a strong wind that broke rocks, an earthquake, and a roaring fire. Then everything settled down, and in the absolute stillness of that moment, God spoke. In a moment of seemingly complete loneliness, he was never alone.
Have you ever asked yourself something like, “where is God?” Or “Why can’t I hear God?”
Instead of merely trying to fill the silence, we should prioritize spending more time resting in the silence. For it is in this intentional stillness that we truly encounter the essence of finding God in the silence. Because God is not amidst the noise, but rather in the tranquility, in the quiet. If you aren’t hearing from God, chances are you aren’t spending time resting in the silence.
