Our Greatest Strength

           Traffic hums and squeaks. Phones buzz and ring. Music blares, and people bustle. If one doesn't keep up, they can soon feel lost at sea not knowing where they fit in but compelled to add some of their own noise. We sit in church every Sunday a little restless and anxious at the stillness of prayer, and the speaker who pauses between thoughts. Afterward we fill the sanctuary and the foyer with our own words. The place becomes alive with the sound of stampeding children, laughing adults, and wailing infants while we breath a little easier. We leave in the same manner we came to church: the moment we get into the vehicle there's music or a talk show host jibber jabbering. When lunch is done we curl up in a blanket for a nap only to fight a battle of trying to shut down our thoughts long enough to fall asleep. This is our world. A world spun out of busyness.
       What happened to times of reflection? Since when must our lives be filled with chaos in order to have a successful life? What is that sense of awkwardness when there is a moment of quiet in the house? Why is there an urgency to fill it?
      And why am I afraid to be silent? When I wait in silence and feel the presence of the Lord close to me, why am I always tempted to say or do something in order to break that silence?

        "Religion, " says Tozer, "has accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity, and bluster make a man dear to God. But we may take heart. To a people caught in the tempest of the last great conflict God says, 'be still, and know that I am God.' (Psalm 46:10), and still He says it, as if He means to tell us that our strength and safety lie not in noise but in silence."

There's a learning going on in my life. A learning to be silent; to be okay with silence, to rejoice and be comfortable in it. But not just any silence. A silence that is the acknowledgement of God searching and knowing my heart. A silence that dwells in the thought that He is God. The beginning was uncomfortable as I became more and more aware of Him. This was accompanied with a greater sense of awareness of myself and my shortcomings. Each time it left me shaken. But it left me with a greater desire to know Him more. Truly, silence is golden.