Quiet Down

"Then He said, 'Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.' And behold, the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks is 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 still small voice." 1 Kings 19:11-12, NKJV I remember my teachers in school shouting, “Quiet down!” over the roar of our classroom. Our teacher knew that she couldn’t talk over the noise of those kids. She knew that if anything was going to get done, we all needed to be quiet. Do you ever have trouble stopping all the noise in your life? Does it seem like there is always some sort of noise running in the background? The trouble with commotion in our lives is that it makes it extremely difficult to hear from God. The passage of scripture above is showing us that we have a tendency to always look for God in the wind, the earthquakes and the fires of life. But that’s not His primary way of speaking with us. He’s looking for those times where we quiet down our lives so that we can hear His still small voice. I don’t know about you, but I long to hear God’s still small voice. It reminds me of two verses that talk about getting quiet or getting still so that we can hear: “…meditate within your heart on your bed and be still.” (Psalm 4:4, NKJV) “Be still and know that I am God….” (Psalm 46:10, NKJV) How can we ever have a quality “quiet time” when we don’t build margin in our lives to get quiet? How can we ever hear from heaven if we keep turning up the noises here on earth? I want to encourage you this weekend to carve some time in your life to hear from God. Would you be willing to do an experiment with me? Will you set apart some time to find a place to get quiet and spend some time with God? Block out at least two hours – four would be better – and get yourself somewhere that you won’t be distracted by the wind, an earthquake or a fire. The first thing to do is quiet your mind and your heart. This may take more than a few minutes. Don’t try to get here too quick. It’s a time to really put your focus upon God. The second thing would be to write down some questions that you would like to know from God. Don’t be too generic or superficial, but write down real, heartfelt questions about your life. Then pray and ask God to bring clarity to you during this time. Ask Him to open up your heart to revelation knowledge about His plan and His will for you. Let this be a time where you are drawn closer to Him. He says that if we seek Him, we will find Him. Now it’s time to start reading your Bible. I would suggest to start by reading a few Proverbs, a few chapters in Psalms, and then some chapters out of the New Testament. Then begin to journal your thoughts. What are you seeing in the scriptures, what are you hearing? Then just go back and forth between reading then writing, writing and reading, and reading and writing. You get the picture? And please, whatever you do, don’t be in a hurry, don’t get distracted, but stay focused. Remember, God’s not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire – He’s in the still small voice. So quiet down, and listen!