PASTOR’S CORNER, Rusty Husted, First United Methodist Church, Liberal

Have you ever noticed all the noise in our lives? We are surrounded by noise. From cell phones, television, car horns, restaurants, construction, 24/7 news, social media, air conditioners, neighborhood children, so many different noises that cross our ear. Take for instance, I googled how long it takes to get natural nature sounds without airplanes or vehicles or human made noise. It said it takes an average of eight hours of recording to edit 1 hour of natural nature sounds. We even are surrounded by silent noise. Do we need any more billboards on the road??? So, it is no surprise to me that finding silence in our lives is very difficult. In fact, now we buy noise canceling headphones just so that we can listen to music and no outside noise effects it. It’s no wonder that people are uncomfortable with silence.

Have you ever tried to turn as much noise as you can off and just sit in silence. No music, no tv, just you and silence? I wonder how long you can make it? Microsoft created a soundproof room and wondered if anyone could last an hour with no noise. They even offered a cash prize to anyone who could last an hour. To this day it has not happened yet. 48 minutes was the longest anyone could stand and they said it was very, very, painful and stressful. Again, we see how noise is so much a part of our lives that we have a physical reaction to silence. And we wonder why we struggle to hear God in our lives.

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God!” What does that mean to “be still?” I think that it is not enough to just relax and not do anything. I believe that it also means to find God in the silence. It’s as if God is not one to shout, or beg, or plead, with us to know Him, but to just be silent and still and God will show up. In fact, in today’s culture, God is just waiting for us to stop everything a focus just on Him. We don’t need another book, or podcast, or song, or billboard, or commercial, or activity to know God. We just need to STOP!!! Stop our talking, our searching, our working, our lives and just be with God.

There is this story in 1 Kings 19 where the prophet Elijah is running from the King of Israel because he was the last prophet of God to not be killed by Ahab. So, Elijah runs for his life, and God tells him to go to the mountain and wait for His voice…

“He (God) said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces 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 sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””

God was not in the wind, not in the earthquake, and not in the fire, but Elijah heard God in silence.

When you pray during the day, do you ever stop talking? Do you wait and listen? I don’t think the problem to hear God is God’s fault, but ours. We live in a culture that says if you are not doing something, you are useless and lazy. This same culture wants noise. It wants you to be surrounded by the next tragedy, next big thing, next experience. The culture does not want you to hear from God, it wants you to blame God for His absence in your life. The culture will do anything to keep you away from God. Even some Christians proclaim that if you can’t hear God, you must lack faith. Pray harder, do more good deeds, read more scripture, do something is what some say. I believe this is a sad commentary on Christianity.

Maybe it is time to slow down. Maybe it is time to relax. Maybe it is time to wait. Maybe it is time to do nothing. Maybe it is time to turn off the noise. Maybe it is time to Be Still and Know that I Am God…