The Night I Heard God

The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. --Lamentations 3:25–26 (KJV)

Don't fret. Ward off anxiety. Relax in the Lord. Wait on Him. This is a comfortingly consistent theme in the Bible.

Psalm 37:7

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Micah 7:7

But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Psalm 62:1

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. 

My wife, Phyllis and I were chatting just before going to bed a couple of nights ago. We were tired . . . a good tired. But really tired just the same. It had been a long day, though nothing momentous had preoccupied us. Phyllis and I both have the occasion in our calling to be in front of our laptops quite a bit. We are happy to have this "new" technology at hand. That night, I began to wonder how much such gazing and typing and searching and thinking had been affecting us? I wondered if this had jaded our ability to "hear" God in the silence, if so much "doing" had had the tendency to crowd out "being." I wondered if so much information at our finger tips has rendered meditation and original thought obsolete, or perhaps nearly so? 

There is a place for quiet reflection, for what the Psalmist says above, waiting "in silence" (62:1). In our noise-infested culture, I've come to know by experience that "silence" really IS "golden." Frankly, it was on Sunday night after a long and blessed day, that I had taken the trash to the curb, only to find myself marveling at the nearly absolute quiet. (That's unusual on Main Street even in the small town of Perry, NY!). I quite literally could hear the blood in my ears!? I decided there at 10:45 pm that I could not go in. Not yet. So, I looked around, calmly overcome by sereneness. No iPod. No electronic interference--ear-buds or TV. The three-quarter moon, the shadows in the street lights, a meandering skunk, . . . and the stillness. Ah, the stillness! Then I sat on the front porch . . . calm . . . tranquil . . . at rest.  And I heard God.

Yes, I think that's the way I'll end this post. . . . I heard God. 

I heard God . . .