Within the silence…
Sometimes we make plans, or we look for activities to occupy our minds because although we often say that we want time for us, we are always doing something. I think this is because we are afraid of the experience of silence and solitude.
It seems to me that, lately, the ‘microwave culture’ has led us to develop an intolerance to wait and when we must wait we look for something to do while the ‘waiting time’ passes. There are very few times when we manage to control our impulses and not think that we are wasting our time as we wait.
I remember an event in the life of the prophet Elijah that led me to understand that God approaches us and intervenes in our lives in the processes of waiting and silence.
After Jezebel had threatened the life of Elijah, he fled to the desert with the intention of letting himself die. He ended up taking refuge in a cave where he had one of the most intimate experiences with God. A strong wind passed, an earthquake and fire, but then came a gentle whisper; only there he heard the voice of God [1 Kings 19: 1-18].
In Matthew 6: 6 it says, “But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” [NLT]
When we close the door of our room, we open ourselves to the great things that God alone has in his hands.
Those particular moments when we are alone during at night, or during the morning. When everyone sleeps, and the spaces around us are quiet, we face a space that we inhabit and consume usually with noise or a movie, or any other distraction until we are overcome by sleep; All because we flee silence and waiting.
Usually, it is in this space where we find our thoughts, and to silence them, we distract ourselves. But, just at that moment when Elijah was absorbed by his situation, after so many attempts to fill it with noise, it was in the gentle whisper that he heard the voice of God. From the desert to the intimacy of the cave until the moment that in his silence he heard the voice that gave him direction.
A few nights ago, I had a similar experience, in which, within my intimacy at night, I wanted to do something until I stopped and heard the silence that invaded my thoughts with a melody of Jesús Adrian Romero:
The words are sleeping, they should not be awaken
They got contaminated, they need to rest
They did not communicate, they did not explain the truth
They deteriorated, they need healing.
I do not want to talk, I do not want to talk …
It reminded me that many times we just should keep silent and make room for the voice of God to fill our silences and intimacies. In the silence and the waiting, we will find that continuous direction that we need. Let us surrender our silences in his hands so that he transforms them into the intimacy we need with his voice.
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