The Source of Silence

I have read the Creation story many times and only this morning was I caused to see an aspect of the created act that I had never before seen.  I had read about the creation of the earth and sky and sea.  I had read about the birds of the air, the animals of the earth, and the fish of the sea.  I had read about men and women being created in the likeness of God and with the imprint of the holy.  After listening to a friend's devotional this morning, I saw what I had been missing.  As surely as God created all the things we see around us in creation, He created the silence.   

What seems obvious in this moment is that God not only created the silence, but that He also created in the silence.  What we have been doing since the beginning is adding layers of noise.  While there was certainly noise before the Tower of Babel, that moment causes us to hear the confusion that noise can generate.  We live in an increasingly loud and confusing world.  The noise around comes at us like powerful race cars roaring around the track.  It not only fills our senses, it overwhelms them.  

Anyone who hears the silence and senses the stillness must develop an inner discipline which not only tunes out what is around us, but also enables us to hear what or Who is inside of us.  The Scipture tells us that the Spirit of God desires to dwell in us.  What His presence brings to us is a bit of the stillness and silence that was breathed into the very fabric of creation.  It is surely one of those things we have lost, but at least we know where to find it.  The silence is not found in turning down the volume controls on the external, but in turning the volume controls up on what enables us to hear what God has put within us.