Life's Noise

I drove to work this morning with no radio or music on (I usually listen to the Kidd Kraddick in the Morning show) or cell phone use (sometimes I talk to Mom for the whole drive). I had seen two of my friends' tweets yesterday on Twitter about how they had driven with no radio or music and enjoyed the silence. Hah - "silence?" Yeah that wasn't my experience.

You see, without my radio turned up loud I was far more aware of the cars honking, people yelling on the street, and construction noise. Honestly, for the entire 28 minute drive it all grated on my nerves like a dripping sink. It was maddening! Why do people say that silence is golden?

I felt like it was a lose-lose situation. My radio normally prevents me from experiencing silence, but when I try, true silence can't be obtained. This is our dilemma - we expect silence to mean that there will be no noise, we want the extreme with no distractions. Don't we expect the same from God? We want to see God. We want to hear Him. But God doesn't always show up the way we expect.

Read this story and then rethink about what you ask and expect of God. Are you looking for Him in the right places? Are we looking for silence in the right places?

1 Kings 19:11-13:

The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

He wasn't in the fire

He wasn't in the quake

He wasn't in the wind

He's in a whisper