The Art of Shutting Up

This article was originally posted in the Athabasca Advocate on September 12, 2006

Most people think that I love to talk. People even consider it a kind of family trait: the Richards’ have the genetic ability to use their vocal chords with great efficiency and speed. However, it’s not just talking I love, but conversation… and that is an important difference. Talking is just filling the silence with the sound of your own voice, hoping that someone is listening. Kind of like a DJ on the radio spouting one way communication that may or may not reach the ears of another person (it’s pretty easy to turn a radio off… or tune a person out). Conversation is different.

Our friends at Merriam-Webster (the dictionary people) define conversation as an “oral exchange of sentiments, observations, opinions, or ideas.” The key word here is ‘exchange.’ It requires that more than one party is present, and that both are sharing with each other rather than just shooting words at the other person (we’ve all tried to have conversations with people who really just want to ‘talk’).

Which is why it breaks my heart that so many people view prayer as talking at God rather than having a conversation with God. We want to have the kind of intimacy with Him where we can just sit down and share our hearts with God. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us have given up on ever hearing from God, ever having real communication with Him. We assume that it’s a one-way request line, and all we can do is hope that someone is listening on the other end.

If you feel that way, have I got some great news for you. God wants to have a conversation with you, He longs for it. So why can’t we hear Him? Let’s take a look at this story about a man named Elijah, a man who was a messenger from God during a time of terrible persecution of the Israelites. After a particularly bad spell, Elijah was despairing and looking for answers from God:

“The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
    Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
       Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”” (I Kings 19:11-13 TNIV)

God spoke to Elijah in the gentle whisper, the “still, small voice” as some translations put it. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone who has a voice like that? The only way you can hear them is to, quite frankly, shut up and listen. Can I be so bold as to suggest that maybe this is the first step to hearing God’s voice, simply being quiet and listening? In our busy world with our hectic lives, maybe we can’t hear God speaking because it’s just too noisy.

Now, I know that it’s easier said than done, and I’m not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. But give it a try, look for books on the subject (a good one is Can You Hear Me?: Tuning in to the God Who Speaks by Brad Jersak), and look for others who are learning to listen. Me, I’ll be practicing my “conversation skills.”