Cindy Powell

Shhh …

What do you hear?

When the smartphone is put away.  When the computer is shut down.  When the television and the iPod are silent.  What do you hear?

Do you hear him?

Shhh …

What do you hear?

When the props are gone.  When the distractions fade. When everyone and everything else slips into the background.  When the hiding places are exposed. When the facades are stripped away.  What do you hear?

Do you hear him?

Shhh …

What do you hear?

Listen closely. He is speaking. He is speaking to you. In the stillness, in the quiet–he is always speaking. Is your world too busy, too crowded, too loud to hear?

When it’s just you and God–what’s left?  What’s your reality in him? Are you satisfied or dissatisfied? Content or frustrated?  At rest or restless? Longing to linger or anxious to move on?

The older I get, the more I appreciate the quiet.  I used to fight the silence.  I thought if God was quiet–nothing important was happening.  But I don’t think anything could be further from the truth.  In fact, I think more happens in the quiet–when God is working deep beneath the surface of things–than at any other time.   Because in the stillness–he is there.

Shhh…

What do you hear?

“Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

Jesus, please still the motion and commotion that surrounds my life; bring stillness and quiet my soul.  Draw me away with you–apart from the distractions of this world–and open my ears and my heart to the glorious sounds of silence.  I want to be still, Lord–I want to be still and KNOW you are God.