Out Our Way: The sound of silence

Out our way, the noise in town can be distracting. Kids gunning pickup trucks at 70 mph in a 25 mph zone, the heavy trucks along the highway, the freight trains that ply the Hi-Line section of track hourly, all contribute to the noise. No wonder Charlie and I love to work cows up on the Tiger Ridge, for the noise there is birds, calves, and ole Doc sneezing. Who knew horses get hay fever?

Up in the Bear Paws, I have found a special retreat spot where even these sounds tend to be few and far between. It is a place overlooking a small valley where the sounds of silence reign. Yes, I recall Simon and Garfield’s song of that title, but it has a different meaning for me. For the sound of silence is the sound of God.

This week, I am reading quotes from some Christian writers like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Henri Nouwen regarding the idea I have found in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” As I have shared before, it has become something of a mantra for me as I deal with the daily stresses and strains I have encountered since the loss of my marriage and more recently my calling as a pastor through retirement, the emptiness is overwhelming at times — especially at 4 a.m.

I seem to recall in my psychology courses in college and seminary that the 4 a.m. anxieties are the demons that do the most damage — waking from dreams where love, health and purpose are the norm, and discovering the demons laughing at you and tormenting you with the reminder that you have none of these things anymore — these are the “pitchforks” the devils drive into the heart and soul.

Then I recall Elijah, who also faced harsh reality and broken dreams. He, whom the Lord had called to speak in His Name, was also rejected, abandoned, and betrayed. He, too, wanted only to run away, curl up and die for the emptiness was too much to bear. From Israel he ran all the way to the Sinai desert and took refuge in the very cave Moses had occupied when the Lord allowed him a glimpse of His Glory. Elijah wept and cried out, “There is no justice in the world! I, who have been faithful, have been thrown aside! I, who sought to serve, have been rejected by friends and family alike. I have suffered for my faith and now I find no one cares — not even You, Lord! I am the only one in all of Israel who has remained loyal to You — and I am deserted and betrayed on all sides! Let me just die!”

And the Lord came to him in that place — not in the tornado, nor the earthquake, nor the volcanic eruption — but in the silence. God is not nature, but the One who created nature. The terrifying power of the wind, earthquake and fire — as impressive as they were o Elijah — were not God. And it is only in the stillness that an awestruck Elijah heard the Voice: saying, in effect, “Be still, and grasp that I am God!” Read that passage in context and you discover God is telling us all to let God be God, and trust He knows what He is doing … even if we cannot understand.

Turns out, Elijah was wrong about being the only one left. For though the secularized society and the secularized religious leaders who went along with the pop culture of the day seemed to be in power — like the wind, earthquake and fire — they were not God. Indeed, only a faithful remnant — 7,000 faithful who refused to give into the “political correctness” of the day — existed. And that would prove to be enough.

King Ahab and Queen Jezebel ruled the kingdom and dominated the culture, but they were not God. Their power, prestige and dominance over the culture seemed overwhelming to Elijah — just as the wind, earthquake and fire had seemed on Mount Sinai. As someone once wrote, “Your God is too small” when the thunder of the windbags, the earth shakers, and the mob manipulators terrify us and make us think they are in charge and as Nietzsche, the beloved atheist philosopher adored by Marx and Hitler and Stalin, declared to the deluded secularists of his day, “God is dead,” there were many, as in Elijah’s day, who refused to follow. They too were likely called names as the faithful remnant today are by the modern day versions of Ahab and Jezebel who rule our culture.

Like Elijah, we may feel we are alone, for we are reviled by media and celebrities and even some senators and representatives for daring to put God first in our lives. All noise, fuss and fury — but in the end, if you bother to read history, of no lasting consequence. I have shared the wonderful comment by Philip Yancey, who noted Stalin’s disdain for the church when he mocked Christians saying “How many divisions does the Pope have?” Well, had he lived, he would have seen the answer as his empire came crashing down and in eastern Europe — from Germany to Poland to Romania, to the Ukraine and to Mother Russia herself — the Christians rose up. Remember the overthrow of the Soviet bloc began in the church where the faithful refused to “bend the knee to Baal.” The solidarity movement that destroyed communist control in Poland started in the church. Same with the East Germans whose prayer rallies eventually lead to mass marches against the old regime and eventually tore down the wall. Romania rose up against the dictator when led by the church, as did the people of the Czech Republic and the people of Slovakia.

The modern versions of Ahab and Jezebel deny it and claim they, and not God, are still in control, but like the wind storm, earthquake and fire, they are only noise. Only when we stop listening to their bombastic ranting and take the time to listen to the “sounds of silence” shall we hear the voice of God. Be still. Know that I — not they — am God.

Blessings

Brother John Bruington