Silence

Today, I was shown a video which really opened my eyes and made me think about how much I open my ears to God and how much I allow Him to actually speak while I listen. 

Noise - Rob Bell

 

These are some of the questions the video asks:

• Do you feel like God is distant? 
• Do you wish that God's voice would be louder in your life?
• Is there a connection between the amount of noise in our lives and our ability to hear God?
• Have you spent the same amount of time worrying and talking about your difficult, confusing situations as you have spent in silence, listening to what God might have to say?
• Why is talking so much easier than listening?
• Does my schedule, my time, my life look like that of a person who wants to hear God's voice?
• Do you really believe that God's voice is more interesting than the voices around you?

The truth is we do find talking is easier than listening. I know for myself that when I go to pray, I will often pray but then forget to stop and listen to see what God has to say. I'm so busy caught up in my own world and the busyness of life, I forget that He wants to talk back to me. 

There are times when I feel like God is distant, and usually what I find is it is not Him who is distant from me. He is always near. When He feels distant, it's because I have neglected to communicate with Him, I've not stopped to hear His words. If we want God's voice to be louder we need to stop talking, we need to shut out everything that is keeping us from hearing Him. We cannot blame God for not being there, He is always there, always willing to communicate, but He cannot talk to us if we do not listen. 

In discussing this video with a few friends we were talking about how often when we speak to each other we find ourselves not listening so much but deciding what we are going to say next. We can do this with God too, we can focus on what else we need to pray about, what else we want to tell Him and we don't give Him the chance to say anything. 

"Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent" (Psalm 4:4)

 

Listening doesn't always come easily, some of us need to train ourselves. I know I do! I often find that I don't know a lot about people, and I think this is because I talk so much I don't let them talk about themselves. It's not that I'm not interested, I just don't think about it at the time. The same thing can happen with God. When I don't let him talk, when I don't listen, I cannot learn more about Him. If I want to get closer to Him, I need to listen to Him. I need to open my ears and close my mouth, the more I do this, the more I will learn about Him, and the more I will be able to receive His love. 

Thankful for: Rest

I like to be thankful for some strange things, so today I'm thankful for rest. I was not feeling 100% today... sore throat, dizzy eyes, but I refuse to let myself get sick! It made me realise just how important rest is. If we make ourselves so busy that we get no time to rest, we increase our chance of becoming ill. I know sometimes viruses go around and they get us anyway, but the doctors then always tell us to "go home and rest". Rest must be important, so I am thankful that I can actually have that time of rest. I am thankful that I am not so busy that I can not look after myself. Rest is great!