Is Your Silence Golden?

Lately, I’ve been contemplating the significance of silence. I’ve noticed how many of us find it hard to simply quiet ourselves down — I mean, really shut down all the external voices, demands, and impulses that compel us to keep in motion all the spinning plates of thoughts and reasonings.

We live in a world where there is so much stimulation, so much noise, so much clamor. My mother used to have a funny saying. She used to say, “Child, it’s a wonder you can even hear yourself think with all that ruckus going on around you.”

I’ve come to believe most of us like it that way. We prefer all the racket, because often times when we become still and silent, we then begin to hear that gentle voice of the Holy Spirit confirming or convicting us of just where we stand with our Maker.

The Scripture says, “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10 NLT) This matter-of-fact verse does a swell job of summing it up for us.

In John 10, Jesus (The Good Shepherd) says his sheep know his voice and won't follow a stranger's voice. When we purpose to slow ourselves down and allow the dust to settle, then we can better hear the voice of our Shepherd speaking directly to our hearts whenever we need to regroup and put first things first.

All of us could probably benefit by pushing the mute button on the remote control of our daily lives. I’ve noticed the older I get, the more I need to be comfortable in my own skin, and be OK when the volume of life is turned down.

I no longer want to be uncomfortable when the silence falls and my soul begins to stir. I want to know what it is to be still and know that He is Lord. All I want to hear is the voice of Him who breathed life into my very spirit and called it ... “me.”

Shhhhhh ...

Can you hear it? Listen to those soothing sounds of silence whispering to us, the audible hush of “deep calling to deep,” that beckoning voice of the One who longs to bring to us the peace that passes all understanding.

"... in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength ..." Isaiah 30:15 KJ21

Copyright © Missey Butler. Used by permission.