We live in a noisy world. Have you noticed? Quiet is difficult to come by, and it’s getting scarcer every year. In earlier days, you’d have to go to a public gathering to hear someone speak or perform a concert. The radio brought these things first into our homes, then into our cars, and soon enough into our pockets. Television followed the same course.
Now, with the internet, we have an inexhaustible source of people speaking and performing available to us at any time. There’s a lot of good and enjoyable content out there. There’s even more that is dreadful. But good or bad, enjoyable or rage-inducing, in the end it’s all noise. At some point, we need to turn it all off and just feel the silence.
If you’ve never thought about silence as something you can feel, it’s been too long since you’ve enjoyed the marvel of pure peace and quiet. When the chatter is gone and all that’s left are the sounds of God’s creation, you can feel the silence. It’s at once a weight being lifted off your soul and a heaviness of the awesomeness of God. I contend you will never feel a more intimate connection with God than when you block out all the noise of this life. When there are no distractions, just you and Him, the experience is beyond words. It is something you will come to crave.
Here’s the bad news: Satan and this world are conspiring against your ability to encounter silence. Noise equals distraction, and distraction means you will be hard-pressed to keep your focus on Christ. (Luke 8:14; 1 Peter 5:8) Sure, listening to sermons or uplifting music can help you think about God, but your brain needs silence to process what you have been hearing and feeling.
It’s one reason sleep is necessary for health. A mind always processing without ever assembling and using what it is learning is a recipe for madness. We require time to think, to chew on the weightier matters of Scripture, and to consider how we will live what we are learning. (Psalm 1:2; Joshua 1:8)
I have always been addicted to knowledge. If I don’t understand how something works, I’m driven to figure it out. The availability of so much knowledge in so many formats is very tempting to me. But after an intense period of study, I know I need to sit, be still, and feel the silence. It’s when I allow the quiet to wash over me that I can be still enough to hear and see what God is teaching me.
It’s not in the study; it’s in the silence. Knowledge without understanding of application is useless. (James 1:22; 1 Corinthians 8:1) You can read the Bible six times in a year, but unless you take the time to digest what you’re reading and allow God the space to illuminate your thinking, it’s a useless endeavor.
You’ve got to feel the silence. It gives you the headspace to marvel at His creation. (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:20) You recognize how awesome our God is when you allow the surrounding beauty to captivate you. (Psalm 8:3-4; Psalm 145:5) Consider Jesus’ example: He would get away from everyone early in the morning and pray. (Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16) Can you imagine how noisy His life was? People were constantly trying to touch Him, clamoring for His healing, and insistent on His attention. (Mark 3:9-10; Luke 8:42-45)
Jesus lived a noisy life, and He knew He had to silence the noise around Him and be still. Don’t get so caught up in your podcasts, music, movies, and commentary that you forget why you’re here. Turn it off. Pray and think about God. Feel the silence, and then do the work He gives you to do. (Ephesians 2:10; Colossians 3:23-24)