Be Quiet and Listen To Me

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

     There are perhaps many times when we should be listening instead of talking.  I find that in my later years that I don’t have too many people to talk to so I text strangers or talk to a nurse that happens to drop by my room or anyone that can carry on a conversation in the hallway.   While working with American Telephone and Telegraph Company, they gave us a course in “How to Listen.”  It included eye contact, sitting forward, looking at the speaker, not yawning or answering a phone call.  You needed to give the speaker full attention and show them that you were interested in what they were saying.  We often are just waiting for the other person to stop talking so we can start and give our opinion of the matter at hand.  My wife can tell me to “shut up” in two languages, which she often does.

     Obviously, there are those times when we should be quiet and listen.  It is especially important to do so when God is speaking.  The simple two word introduction from today’s passage is, “Be still…”  When God says, “Be still” it is one of the most important exhortations from Him, and it means to be still, to cease from talking and take in what God is saying.  Righ tat the beginning we see the words, “..;.know that I am God…”  It is God saying, “Be quiet!  I am talking now.”  God told Job in Job 38:3, “Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.”  Job and his three friends had been saying many words, and finally, God spoke and in the following chapters,  God spoke and disclosed many things to Job showing that He was indeed God and responsible for the creation.  He is omnipotent, that is all powerful and omniscient, that is all knowing, and omni present, that is everywhere and nothing is hid from Him.  We sometimes regard God as a cafeteria worker, offering bits and pieces of this or that so we might be comfortable.  We speak to Him as if He were a mere servant, set on giving us any thing we want.  I once pleaded with my Mother to do something to get me home and she replied, “Take it like a man.”  In other words, “It’s time to grow up.”    I often hear someone praying, with a rapid tongue, just to get the words out quickly and to tack on a “In Jesus name, amen.”  They have not  realized where they have been.  They have not grasped the majesty and the awesomeness of God.  Who is God to you?  Is God just a heavenly grocery clerk, or a white haired banker, or a doctor who never sleeps?  God is the One Who spoke the universe into existence by just His Word.  May we praise God for His majesty today and may we be  quiet and listening to His Voice.