We’ve considered this week the virtue of silence – of spending time in silence and of exercising the right we have to be silent.

But perhaps the question arises in your mind, “what, then, am I supposed to do in the silence?”  Just let my mind wander?  Think about what I’ll have for lunch?  Worry about an upcoming test?  Plan my weekend?  

How about, just listen?  Now, that might seem like a paradox—if there is silence, then what is it we’re supposed to listen to?  But let me suggest we change the question: It is not what we’re supposed to listen to…but what we’re supposed to listen for.  

After Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal, Jezebel began hunting him down, and he was on the run.  At God’s instruction, he went out and stood on the mountain.

“And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks 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. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.[a] 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him…”

The original Hebrew for the phrase “low whisper” actually translates closely as “a sound of thin silence.”  It was only in and even through the silence that God spoke to Elijah and ultimately gave him instructions to then return to Damascus.

What if silence is the only way to hear God speak sometimes?  Would that make us take seriously the command He has given, to “be still and know that I am God”?  Maybe…but only if we really want to hear His voice.  Elijah did: Do you?

Have a wonderful day.