THE SILENCE IS SO LOUD I CAN'T THINK
by Janice Seney

I pulled the pillow around my head.  Even then I could still hear the constant drip, drip, drip of the faucet.  It was late and I needed sleep but the quiet dripping shattered my ability to doze off into dreamland.

The house was too silent.  If I could have turned on a radio or a TV it would have drown out the nerve jarring drip but there was no radio or television.   I had come away to a place of solitude seeking a time of rest in the Lord. 

Oh what I would have given for a plumber at that moment!  My time of solitude with the Lord was not turning out to be very spiritual.   As a matter of fact it appeared that He had decided to leave me in solitude because it seemed He was nowhere near!

I believe that in stillness and quiet, many things happen in our relationship with God and not all of it is pleasant at the moment.   What are the drip, drip, drips that you hear in your stillness?  What is the purpose of stillness and quiet?  Why do we avoid stillness?   Is anything other than physical rest accomplished in our stillness?

In our American society, rest is a strange concept.   To be still is almost considered wrong.   Yet,
in God’s plan rest is very important.  God even included it in the Ten Commandments.  Exodus 20:9-11  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work. 

He even insisted that we allow the land to rest from crops every seven years.  Was that just for religious reasons or did God have something practical in mind? 

As a mother of five, there were many times that I would give my children certain instructions.  Their reply, “Why?”    I did not always have time to explain or the explanation would have meant nothing to their young minds therefore I would usually reply, “Just do it!”

I knew my reasons and intentions were for their good but I could not always explain that to them. 

Even so, God knows that He placed rest into the “Top 10” for a very good reason. 

Over the years I have come to understand and see some of those reasons.

• In stillness we begin to identify the drip, drips in our lives.  And we become desperate for the help of “a plumber.”
• In stillness we “let go” of our tight grip and lay things down (good & bad things.) Stillness is our fall and winter season that prepares for the newness of spring. Without stillness we can never be prepared to go into the new thing.  The new would remain contaminated by the old.
• In stillness our lives (body, soul, & spirit) are given time to process and refresh.
• In stillness we are making are greatest statement of faith,  “God I believe You have it all under control.”  In stillness we acknowledge God.
• Stillness trains you for obedience.  A dog that is trained to go fetch a thrown stick is impressive. But one that is trained to “stand still” when the stick is thrown and the master says “stay” is truly trained in obedience.

There is an unexplained mystery in stillness (rest). God has over the years, forced me into rest and stillness. It has been one of the hardness things for me to embrace; yet it has produced & is producing huge harvest in my life. 

I have come to discover that God has been training me in answer to one of my lifetime prayers, “Lord, teach me obedience.”