In the Whisper by Stewart Perry
I listen to quite a few podcasts but I have to admit that many of the times I’m listening while I’m doing other things. There’s a few podcasts that I really want to listen closely to & so I make sure that I can give them my maximum attention while others I’m happy to be like background noise while I’m driving or shopping or at the gym. Most of my religious podcasts are ones I want to pay attention to but a few have made it on to the background noise list. One of those podcasts that’s made the background noise list because while I like the guests, I’m a little over the presenter always talking about himself. I was listening to this one the other day because I’m a few episodes behind & the guest said something that I jotted down in my notes app in my phone (which is kind of like my ideas journal at the moment).
She said something like “don’t scream where scripture whispers”.
It really got me thinking not only about how much screaming seams to be going on in the world… but often how much of God seems to be found in the whispers…
It reminded me of Elijah encountering God on Mount Horeb:
He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ 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. (1 Kings 19:11-12)
There is so much noise around us… lots of screaming but also lots of background noise… even well intentioned podcasts… Ironically the thing that I was using for background noise helped to remind me that it’s sometimes important to seek out the whispering of God.
At the moment I’m intentionally trying to have some space in my week when I can quietly reflect, process & think as I pay attention to what God is calling me & this church to focus on.
Because I am the personality type I am, I don’t easily do this & sitting still or watching the waves crash at the beach isn’t something I do easily… but one thing I’m trying to do is to cut out some of the noise…
Each one of us has literal & metaphoric noise in our lives… but we also can have an expectation that God will be revealed in the wind or the earthquake. Sometimes God is revealed in the big & dramatic ways… but often God is revealed, like to Elijah at Horeb, in the sound of sheer silence.
I’d love to hear how you experience God whether it be in the dramatic ways or ways that seem more like whispers. God is revealed in unique ways, so I do hope we can share the different ways we experience the revelation of God with each other. The more we can talk of our experiences of God, the more we will encourage others to seek after God.
Let us pay attention to those whispered moments & lets share those moments with others.