Adair First Baptist Church

When do people experience quiet? Where do they find solitude? Everywhere a radio is blaring, a TV is on or earbuds are drowning out the silence. With all of the noise of life I don’t see how anyone can simply think, pray, discern, or learn. But people are strangely comforted by the noise. They don’t see what it is doing to them and they can’t see what they are missing. Recently I sat in an auditorium with a speaker directly above my head and I became more and more irritated with the incessant noise. Conversely, many find complete silence bothersome or even frightening. The problem; God is often found and heard in the silence. He simply will not shout over and compete with the gods of this world. To shout and compete with them would in a sense validate them accepting them as equals and the one and only God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has no equal; He has no legitimate opponent. He stands alone and welcomes those who will humbly come, listen, and believe. “Be still and know that I am God” (PS 46:10) has so much more significance in light of the noise of this world.

A great time to find silence and solitude is before everyone else in the house is awake. You will find a gentleness and peace during these morning hours that is hard to find elsewhere. You may find that the quietness of nighttime or a simple break in the middle of the day is a more opportune time for you. The time of day is not nearly as important as the consistent practice of finding a solitary quiet place to commune with the Father.

Another glorious opportunity for silence and solitude can be found away from the busyness of “town”. (Farmers have known this secret all of their lives and wonder what the “city folk” see in the cacophony of their existence.) Find a nature trail, the bank of a pond, or a hilltop and visit with the Lord. It isn’t that the Lord is there and absent in the city. You can simply hear Him better in the silence.

So, if you desire to hear from the Lord don’t be afraid of the silence; neither should you avoid it. Instead embrace it. Plan for it. Take life from it. It seems that we subconsciously know quiet and solitude will reveal the sinfulness, depravity, incoherence, and inconstancy found in our minds and hearts. Since this is a painful experience we avoid silence and solitude at all costs. Given time, though, the Lord will use these silent times to forgive our sin, heal our depravity, make sense of our thoughts and create a glorious consistency in our lives. It all starts by embracing “quiet.”

In Christ,

Dan Lewis

Pastor, Adair FBC

[email protected]

918-706-3476