Waiting In Silence

I once heard a quote attributed to A.W. Tozer that shook me. It said, “If the Holy Spirit were withdrawn from the Church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the Early Church, 95 percent of what they did would stop and everyone would know the difference.” I believe he was pointing out how easy it is to build a full, meaningful life that centers around God, but doesn’t pause long enough to notice or hear Him. We’ve grown so accustomed to a busy life that being still can cause us to feel guilty and unproductive. We have to ask ourselves, “When’s the last time I let myself be still, quiet and undistracted before the Lord?” It’s a question that even the most faithful and spiritually seasoned person needs to ask when life gets loud.

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah had just had one of the most productive ministry days of his career on Mount Carmel when he found himself on the run. God led him to Horeb, the mountain of God, and asked him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He told the Lord everything he was busy doing, but the Lord told him to go stand before Him on the mountain. Then there was a great wind that tore into the mountain, but the Lord wasn’t in the wind. Then there was an earthquake, but God wasn’t in it. After that there was fire like he had just seen God do at Mount Carmel, but the Lord wasn’t in it either. Finally there was a gentle whisper of a still, small voice and Elijah hid his face in a posture of humility, the same way Moses had in the presence of God, because he recognized he wasn’t just hearing a sound. He was in the presence of God. He learned that God is not always in the noise and fire. He’s often speaking in a gentle whisper that we must quiet ourselves to hear.

Psalm 62:5 says, “For God alone my soul waits in silence and quietly submits to Him, For my hope is from Him” (AMP). Waiting in silence isn’t wasted time. It’s where we submit to God, hear His gentle whisper and have our hope restored. Elijah didn’t get his next assignment from the fire on Mount Carmel. It came from being quiet in the presence of the Lord. Like him, we need to carve out some time to wait before the Lord in silence to hear His voice before we try to do more for Him. It’s the only true way to build a meaningful life that doesn’t just center around God, but submits to Him and gives Him control of what we do. After all, a life that waits for Him in the silence will always look different than one that just works for Him in the noise.

Photo by Herish Natheer on Unsplash