God is in the Silences

One of the qualities of good friendships is that these friendships trust each other in the "silences," those times when we're given to think. If life is full of activity, color and minute-to-minute mind numbing stuff that pushes God far away somewhere as a spectator [hoping to get His attention by one's busy life], when silence comes, so comes a particular dumbfoundedness [what to do with the time we now have to think].

The Lord has given us silence as a tool, whether we don't have two seconds in a row to think consciously or whether our lives have more silence than we would want. We need silence. We cannot always control our surroundings, but God can train us to find silence among busy-ness. He can also use the large chunks of silence in our life to bring us closer to Him by serving others or studying about Him more. In the silences we call up what we feed our minds. Feeding on His Word calls His Voice to us. We are connected directly to God if we've obeyed Him through His command to be baptized for the removal of sins where His Good Spirit is implanted in us (Acts 2, specifically verse 38). God then grows us for the rest of our days spiritually so long as we long for Him in Scripture and act out what He is working in us.

I find that sweeping the floors, cleaning out dog bowls and leaving the media off meanwhile produce the silences that call me to God. He's always there. He does not change. His words speak to me in short snippets when I dare to listen. He longs to call me into His presence no matter where I am. I have not earned the right to call Him friend as Abraham was called friend, but I do know that being a daughter of God puts me in a place of being on holy ground all of the time whether those around me know it or not.

My prayer today is to listen a bit more. God cannot speak when one is filibustering, both in our minds and out loud. He needs silence, first in our souls and then with each other. I taught James 1:1-18 a few weeks ago, and a few days later I was put to the test. While part of the test was passed [due to God's rich grace], I failed another part of the test. I'm so in need of Him. How about you?