More Than Silence

What a new kind of world we have found ourselves in. With countries being on lock down and most of life as we know it being shut down, it’s hard to know what normal is anymore.

I was on a walk the other day with my husband, and we started observing how it kind of felt like the beginning of the Avengers Endgames movie. Please tell me you’ve seen it. You know, after Thanos snapped his fingers and half of the world died and everything became…just quiet.

Okay, so maybe it’s not really the same at all, but we did notice a difference.

The streets were bare…too bare.
The air was quiet…too quiet.

But in the quietness, we could hear birds singing, snow melting, branches swaying. We’ve heard the news talk about the better air quality, wildlife showing up closer to cities, and sea life coming closer to shore than every before. It seems like such a shame that something so drastic and hard for us is what it took to make nature sing again.

But maybe nature was always singing.

Maybe we just couldn’t hear it.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.

Psalm 19:1-4

God’s creation is constantly pouring out praises to him… but it’s not often we are moving slow enough to see. I watched an Instagram video the other day from the worship leader at my old church. It was on Psalm 19, and he was walking alone in a park, talking about listening in the silence; listening to the praises poured out by the creation of God himself.

That got me thinking, how often do we slow down enough to listen to the praises of creation? How often do we willingly dwell in the silence?

CoVid-19 has quieted our surroundings. It has slowed our pace of life to something unrecognizable. In the quietness, though, our minds and hearts are still hard at work, looking for something to busy them, to entertain them, to distract them from this new quiet.

For me, when the external noise finally quieted, I’ve been confronted by the noise in my heart. The feelings, thoughts, insecurities that I’ve pushed down and hidden by my busy pace of life are no longer hidden.

I feel anxiety. I feel selfishness. I feel a hurried, discontent heart. I feel vulnerable.

In this slowed, quieter lifestyle, what is in our heart is truly starting to be the source and outflow of our being. We can no longer cover our imperfections or emotions through our activities, and it can make us feel weak. But in this quieter lifestyle, there is rest and renewal.

Let us lean into the silence. Lean into how God is speaking during this time. It may not be the way we expect or the way we want.

When nature declares the glory of God, the bible says they have no speech and they make no noise. A noiseless worship we may not always be able to hear with our ears. We may need to listen with our eyes to the beauty of the sunset or with our nose to the fresh smells of spring flowing in the breeze. We may need to listen with our body to feel the warmth of the sun on our skin.

When God speaks, it may take more than listening with your ears. It may take watching people learn how to be good neighbors in this time of social distancing. It may take going on a walk and observing the natural beauty around us. It may take quieting our own heart and allowing it to be vulnerable to the Lord. When we take the time to lean into the quiet that has been given to us, we give space for God to speak and work in ways that often get drowned out by external noise.

Am I saying CoVid-19 is a good thing? Absolutely not. But given these circumstances that we have no control over, I would encourage you, friend, to go on a walk – without your headphones – and walk in the silence. Listen to the birds, see the grass, smell the flowers. Listen for the unspoken praises of the creation of God. And let God work in you, his creation, to replace the anxiety and selfishness in your heart with praise for him.