The still small voice
It’s a Monday night and I’m sitting in our designated dressing room with my other teammates. We are all getting geared up for our hockey game which starts in the next 20 minutes. This has become my usual routine. I get ready a bit faster than everyone else and head out to the bench as the Zamboni is prepping the ice before our game begins. As I sit there on the bench watching him, there is a silence that begins to fall over me and as he ends his task of preparing the ice and drives off the rink. It’s the kind of silence that turns into complete silence as it is just me sitting out there for a few moments before everyone else comes out all pumped up. You may wonder why I would do something along these lines; the answer is quite simple. Even though I am out there for a fun time and a great workout, there is something about silence that brings focus to an individual. It’s in that silence that all stress or pressure from the day somehow disappears as your focus is shifted from one mindset to another.
It is the same in our spiritual walk with the Lord. David, a man after God’s own heart, wrote it best when he said,
“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
In the verses that precede this one, David speaks about great turmoil happening throughout the land of Israel. In all of these things there is a solution and a peace in knowing that God has everything under control, but this can only be realized when David becomes still.
We live in a world today where there is a lot of noise going on. We hear voices and information throughout our days. In our cars we have radios, in our stores we have music blaring, in most of our workplaces there is music playing or conversation happening all throughout our day. We have technology at our fingertips via smartphones, tablets, and computers. Stuff is coming at us from every direction and every turn, but in all of this noise going on in the world, we must be still.
Once we become still we can then know that He is truly God. But if we can’t learn how to be still in this noisy world then He won’t have the chance to be truly God in our lives. Similar to hockey, in this life we must turn our focus off of the pressure or stress and place our focus on Jesus who can give us strength. The old song, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” has never been more true. In a world that has so much commotion and distraction, we must find that place where we turn our eyes to Jesus and let Him be God in our lives.
Elijah found this to be true in I Kings 19:11-12
“And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”
There are times, more often than not, when God will not speak in the loud sounding places that we expect Him to, but rather He will speak with a still small voice. My question is simply this:
Do we have a place of silence where we can hear that still small voice of the Master share with us His plans and give us dreams and promises beyond our imaginations?
It’s in the silence that God will mold us and shape us into what He has called us to be. Take a moment in your life and find a place of silence where all distraction is out of the way and you can hear that still small voice. ~ Andrew Clarke
