Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Quietness versus Silence

(Psalms 46:10) Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
I am prejudiced toward action, but I need to spend time being quiet, knowing that God is acting for Himself. I need to be quiet and think about God - study His word - approach Him in prayer.

My hotel room is quiet... just the sound of the heater/air conditioner. White noise - they call it. I can also hear faint traffic sounds outside. Occasionally I hear a door open or close in the hallway - now some voices. (I'm not sure I ever experience perfect silence, since I have a perpetual ringing in my ears that keeps me company even when everything else is quiet. But even that tinnitus is a sort of white noise - a tintinnabulation like a chorus of Spring peepers.)

But it is quiet anyway. Quiet does not require silence. Quiet is the absence of distractions. If I turned on the TV - I would find that distracting. The communication coming from the TV would compete for my attention.

There are other kinds of noise. The computer I am using is on the hotel network - so I could access any number of things - e-mails, news sites, comics sites, U-Tube, God Tube, Facebook, etc. These things are not bad in their place, but if I let them intrude into my quiet they become noise - and they interfere.

Quiet can wear me out, but I need the quiet - some of it everyday.
I need the quiet for my Bible reading... otherwise I can't concentrate.
I need the quiet for my prayer time... so I can focus on God, His word, and His will for my life.
(Psalms 46:10) Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

1 comment:

  1. I find that when I'm struggling with the quiet it is because I'm not wanting to deal with issues. I've really been challenging myself to turn off everything...even background music...to really focus. It's harder than I thought...but well worth it!

    ReplyDelete