The Sound of Silence

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10, ESV)

A recent New York Times article noted that, “We live in a culture obsessed with personal productivity. .... We worship at the altar of hustle and boast about being busy.” But busy is not always productive, nor is it often peaceful.

Christians are not immune to the busyness fad that is sweeping our world. We too can be guilty of overloading our life and even our worship with busy-work. Of course we are to be hard workers, diligent workers (Col 3:23-24). But we are also supposed to be meditative, thoughtful people who are not always busy. Sometimes we need to be still.

I believe firmly in the value of daily Bible reading. But what is the value of reading the Bible if we never take the time to meditate on what it says and to consider how it might apply in our lives?

I believe in the need for Christians to serve others. But what message are we sending to others if we are so busy serving that we seem never to have time to savor the beauty and blessings of creation?

Yes, we are to be busy in the Lord’s work, but there are also times to be silent (Psalm 62; Eccl 3:7). I love to be in the Lord’s presence singing his praises; but there are times to sit silently before him (Hab 2:20). Of course our delight in the instruction of the Lord will cause us to tell others about it; but it will first cause us to meditate on that word (Psalm 1:1-2).

We should not always be busy. We definitely should not always be in the midst of noise. We need to balance our busyness with the sound of silence; we need to seek quiet moments and to use quiet moments to listen to our Lord.