"Message? God wasn't in the sound bites. God was in the silence bites. The word for which Elijah was listening wasn't in the sound bites of earthquake, wind, and fire. God's word came to him in the silence bite that followed. Since we're so long familiar with the King James version of Scripture, the translation of the Hebrew phrase as a still small voice has become treasured language in terms of how we understand God speaking to us, but the original Hebrew says sheer silence, utter silence. Could it be that silence, sheer silence, is very often the necessary prerequisite for hearing the still, small voice of God? Sound bites serve to get our attention. Politicians and advertisers and, admittedly, sometimes even we preachers, capitalize on that and use sound bites. And they may get our attention, but we pay attention in the silence bites. The noise of earthquake, wind, and fire got Elijah's attention so that he was prepared to pay attention in the silence.
As the poet John Ciardi has said, "We are what we do with our attention." We are what we do with our attention. Silence is pregnant with the presence of God. Pay attention."
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