Hearing the Silence

“Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him . . .” 1 Kings 19:11-13 (NRSV)

Elijah heard the silence. It was not in the powerful rock-splitting wind that he found God, it was not in the ground-shaking earthquake, it was not in the blazing fire that Elijah heard God’s voice, but he heard God in the silence.

Elijah flees to the wilderness scared for his life—he is the only prophet left in Israel. The people have turned to other gods. In this solitude God speaks to him not with the might he shows in controlling creation, but in the tenderness of the silence.

Most of us are bothered by the silence. It makes us uncomfortable. In classrooms or meetings, if someone is not talking we get nervous, we squirm in our seats. He feel we need to answer or talk. But perhaps the truth is not in the noise or the answer, but in the spaces between the noise, the spaces between the answers.

We are uncomfortable with the silence because we are uncomfortable in the presence of God—it reminds us of who we are and who He is. We are uncomfortable, because God is the Truth, and we rather build a tower of lies. We are comfortable in the shadow reality of our own truth and not in the Truth of the silence.

Strip away the noise and the untruth around us, so we can hear the silence.