Can you cope with silence?
by our minister
Almost 2900 years ago there lived a man in the land of Israel called Elijah. He was given many tasks to perform by God and few of them were easy because the country in which he lived had very much turned its back on God. Having been commanded to go and tell the king that there would be a severe drought in the land as a result of the people's sinfulness Elijah was then told to go and hide. Maybe that was a bit difficult for him as it gave the impression that he was a bit of a weakling and was running away. You can well imagine what might have been crossing his mind - after all, was the instruction not given by Almighty God; the God who had limitless power and could easily deal with the threats and anger of a mere earthly king who might fret and fume against a messenger who had delivered a message he just did not want to hear.
We all have problems with pride, even believing people, and Elijah may well have been no different. He may well have questioned a command that seemed to dent his ego. If that was the way it was he got over the problem, for we find him doing exactly what God wanted him to do. And that in itself created another problem. Elijah was now cut off from human interaction; he no longer has the opportunity of a social life. How would he cope? Wouldn't there be these long evenings of having no company but his own? Wouldn't there be interminable days when the only human life around was himself? Of course it was such, but Elijah was a man who interacted with God and for him the silence was filled with God's presence.
How would you have coped? Sometimes silence and quietness are times when we contemplate God; times when we are forced to confront his great reality. And, for many, times to get away from as quickly as possible. I wonder if you are capable of standing silently in the presence of God. I wonder if you are constantly trying to avoid him? It was C.S. Lewis who said: The avoiding, in many times and places, has proved so difficult that a very large part of the human race failed to achieve it. But in our own time and place it is extremely easy. Avoid silence. avoid solitude, avoid any train of thought that leads off the beaten track. Concentrate on money, sex, status, health and (above all) on your own grievances. Keep the radio on. Live in the crowd. Use plenty sedation. If you must read books, select them very carefully. But you'd be safer to stick to the papers. You'll find the advertisements helpful; especially those with a sexy or snobbish appeal.
In our day we would add televisions, CDs, DVDs, iPods and such like to Lewis' list, but the strategy would remain the same - AT ALL COST AVOID HIM!
Can you cope with silence?
Fachie