Monday, July 18, 2011

THE SILENCE OF GOD

Hellooo…is anybody out there?

Have you ever had that feeling with God?

Just when you need Him the most, He seems to be MIAa silent sky answers your desperate prayers.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Last week, I took a self-imposed break from Blog Land. It was my anniversary gift to my husband. We actually ended up going out of town camping. No cell phone service, no landlines, no Internet, no television – no distractions.

It was a *dream-come-true* for my mountain man husband. Truthfully, it was a dream come true for me, too. Just the two of us, a tent, a couple of camp chairs – and the beauty of God’s creation.

God had many things to say to me.

But, the thing I loved the most about my time away in the mountains was what I always love about my time away in the mountains.

I can hear God.

I feel Him as if He's sitting right next to me. His thoughts bubble up in my spirit – independently of my own thought processes. He makes me wonder and ponder – He makes me feel whole and peaceful.

He's close…

…and He's talking.

It was a lovely time. With my husband, and with my Lord. I did NOT want to come home off the mountaintop.

Down here, I am surrounded by my *real life.* You know – the one that is full of bills and doctors and car problems and a host of other "real-life" problems. The life that is full of struggles and troubles.

The life that dismays me, and waylays me.

The life that crowds me – the life that seems to so often steal my peace.

Down here, I can't hear God as often or as clearly as I do when I'm in the sanctuary of His creation.

It bugs me I need Him in the "lowlands" more than I do when I'm away. I need His voice and His presence when life's noise volume gets turned up.

And yet, He seems silent.

"Where are You??" I cry out in despair.

You know what? God hasn't moved. He's the same God at home as He is when I'm away from home.

And here's what He taught me.

It isn't that God is silent in my "real life."

It's that I am not.

I don't take the time to stop and be quiet. I don't take the time to stop and listen. I don't take the time to stop…

Yes, I do my quiet time every day – but more often than not (true confession time) – it's kinda sandwiched in between other "important" stuff.

In the mountains, I have nothing else to do but sit – and read – and pray – and ponder. No wonder God can speak to me! I'm actually sitting still and waiting on Him…

On my last night in the mountains, God and I had a little conversation. It went something like this:

"Lord, why can't I hear Your voice when I'm at home?"

"You can…if you listen. I'm always speaking. Are you always listening?"

"Oh."

"Come back home and I'll take care of you there, too."

"But, I can't hear You there the same way."

"I'll talk louder."

I smiled – I'm pretty sure He did, too.

God isn't silent.

It's just hard to talk to one little woman who isn't. Who desperately needs to be quiet so she can hear…

…the still, small Voice that is always talking.


(Linked today with Wendy at Faith's Firm Foundation)


(ANNOUNCEMENT: I may not be posting every day. At least for a few weeks. I'm not quite done listening to Him speak – and I need the time. So, tentatively, I'm planning to take Tuesdays and Thursdays off. But, I'm still dedicated to keeping up with my blogging – it's one of the most special ways that God speaks to me here in my "real life.")


BLOG = "Blessedly Leaning On God!"

13 comments:

  1. Hi Sharon,

    I can relate to your blog. So often my life is just so full of noise, I cannot hear God's voice above it. I know some of the solution is in my hands, some is not. But God is good, He will speak and I will listen. I agree with you that blogging and reading other's blogs, is part of the way He speaks, sometimes a big part. In fact He has spoken this morning through this blog.

    My blogs and I have noticed Kerrie's do not seem to be showing on my dashboard postings at the moment for some reason. Do they show on yours?

    Anyway, have a good Tuesday and Thursday and look forward to seeing and hearing from you, on the other days. Pleased you enjoyed your time off, up on the mountain top.

    God Bless - Nita.

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  2. thank you Sharon for posting this. Glad you guys got away and enjoyed some alone time as a couple as well as some one on one time with you and God! I have been so guilty of spending way too much time online and blogs and its cutting into my quiet time with God. This confirmed what I think I heard God telling me today. Take some time off and delve more into his word and less time on the computer. I think it is great you are doing the same. I know we won't be disappointed!

    betty

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  3. oh yes... the silence and the talking. I know both extremes in my own life. And usually for me, He talks louder when I talk less too. I think your 'off' time from the blog is also a good idea... there are times when I just need to DO the very things I talk about doing... good for you Sharon! :)

    xo

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  4. Bless you Sharon... Been there, gone through that... just not the mountain part... But me being quiet long enough to hear or listen is an important part. Such a timely post. I wrote a month's worth of posts on "Waiting" from a book and 31 scriptures, one a day and came across this... So I will be silent, (unbelievable) and share Oswald Chambers (a much wiser person):

    "Has God trusted you with a silence - a silence that is big with meaning? God's silences are His answers. Think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything analogous to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking for a visible answer? God will give you the blessings you ask if you will not go any further without them; but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into a marvellous understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? You will find that God has trusted you in the most intimate way possible, with an absolute silence, not of despair, but of pleasure, because He saw that you could stand a bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, praise Him, He is bringing you into the great run of His purposes. The manifestation of the answer in time is a matter of God's sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you said - "I asked God to give me bread, and He gave me a stone." He did not, and to-day you find He gave you the bread of life.

    A wonderful thing about God's silence is that the contagion of His stillness gets into you and you become perfectly confident - "I know God has heard me." His silence is the proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, He will give you the first sign of His intimacy - silence."

    I really love this: that He would trust me with His silence!

    I'm so glad that God confirmed that He'd go with you home from the mountains and just talk louder. (sigh) Listening Lord...and waiting!

    Love and peace,
    Peggy

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  5. Isn't it funny - we can hear him so much better when we get rid of all that stuff!

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  6. Perfect post (again). I have purposely deceided not to have an ipod when I work at the fields. I like hearing the wind, the birds, the frogs and yes, God. He puts thoughts in my mind I would never have heard or had time for if I had music to distract me. So glad you got away. So glad you will continue to blog. (-:

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  7. So remembering my time in the mountains, once. Yes, I heard the Lord there. I find I have to sneak away like that, too. The noise in "real life" can be deafening! That is why I have to go to my anchor verse - Be STILL and KNOW that I AM GOD! His GRACE is sufficient.
    May you find an extra portion on Tuesdays and Thursdays to fill you to overflowing!
    Joy!
    Kathy

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  8. Thanks for your insights, Sharon. Instead of in the mountains, God spoke to me through the words of a hymn, "Be Still My Soul." Same God. Still speaking. Praying we'll both be listening.
    Love you,
    Wendy
    Thanks for linking up:)

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  9. I love that you met God there..and enjoyed your husband. Back when we camped I felt the same way...now I haven't had that chance in years and I seem to have to find his voice in the middle of all the noise. He is so faithful to be there also, I just need to recognize it is Him speaking.

    What a wonderful mountain top experience...for both your physical and spiritual body.

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  10. "The life that crowds me – the life that seems to so often steal my peace" -- what a perfect statement for my life! But you are so right. God is not silent...I just am too loud or busy to hear.

    Thank you Sharon.

    Blessings, Joan

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  11. Hi Sharon -

    Very well expressed.

    Glad to know that you are taking some blogging breaks.

    You sound quite determined to listen to the voice of our Lord - at home and "abroad."

    Thank you, Sharon, for sharing this helpful piece.

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  12. I'm sorry that I didn't read this last week. It's really wonderful, and words that this not as small woman who will NOT stop talking needs to hear.

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  13. Dear friends,

    Thank you for your encouraging support. It's been a rough ride lately, and my faith is being tested strongly. There have been moments when I've looked up at the sky and said these very same words - "Hellooo, is anybody out there?"

    Life has become quite "noisy" since I returned from the mountains, and God's voice has had to compete with an onslaught of lies from the enemy. But, I'm still listening - and He's still talking.

    Oh Lord, help me to be still...

    GOD BLESS each one of you - and thank you for your friendship!

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"So [I] have been greatly encouraged in the midst of [my] troubles and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith. It gives [me] new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord. How [I] thank God for you!" (1 Thessalonians 3:7-9)

Thanks for your comments - it is such a joy to be sharing my journey with friends like YOU!

(NOTE: Anonymous comments will be removed. Thank you for understanding.)