To You belongs silence    
(the submissive wonder of reverence which
bursts forth into praise)
and praise is due and fitt to You,
O God in Zion; and to You shall the
              vow be performed.
Psalm 65:1 Amp. Bible

Recently I saw a sad state of affairs. I looked upon our constant Christian rushing about to gather something with hopes that it would get us to God. It is like hysteria to grasp at whatever could help us access His love and presence. Whether through that must-read-book with three simple steps to gain His blessing, that powerfully anointed meeting with awesome worship, to hear the dynamic speaker who supposedly brings in the GLORY, acquiring a tangible prop that will help me get my prayers answered. Or it can be the continual flux of others in and out of my life, all who stir the pot but add no ingredients. Whatever the means, we try to fill this aching void in our soul. All these actions to dig a well, prime a Pump that is already pouring.

Look at all the channels through which we attempt to access God, when the fount of His presence is currently flowing. A simple stillness, a bit of quiet and a casting of our gaze and the Waterway floods the once-dry ground. But fear arises at the prospect of being so still. The quiet is a cage, a prison that feels like the very air is suffocating. I would much rather go, move or do. Anything but sit and wait. I would rather give up the real for the profane. I prefer the motion and movement and tell myself it is God, rather than giving Him His pleasure, by sitting at His feet. We, the Church, are too busy. We don't meet with God because we are too frantic doing for Him.

"Activity suggests a life filled with purpose."
From "The Sound of Music"

Entering silence is like letting go of a rope when swinging from a tree. The ultimate intention is to catch air, feel the rush of the descent and splash into refreshing water.

Yet if we will not agree to be free of our woven strands of activity, we will never experience the excitement of Living Water. More than that, injury may occur as we slam back into the trunk of the tree, which appears safely rooted, but only to the world. If we never leave the feverish activity, we will never leave the world. We will be only rooted deeper, shifting dirt and building nothing, giving ourselves to something that is perishing.

We run from waiting and we are addicted to motion, it is our drug of choice as Christians. It is not always real activity, it's often just running, just any kind of movement. Creating noise is the willful plugging of your ears, so you won't have to hear God. A good excuse, the creating of my own diversion.
What makes us run so hard from the stillness that would take us into the very presence of God?

Often it is at our core, the fear of His rejection. Where the wounds of the past seep into the possible relationship of the present. Either shame or guilt or abandonment bleed into and overshadow the loving kindness of our God. Any seeds of abandonment flare in the silence of waiting. I could more easily brace myself for the guilt of failing to spend time with Him than to face the pain of my imagined rejection from Him. He is my Creator, if He rejects me who am I? What am I?

Or it can be the cold chill of losing control and of God taking the wheel of direction. He may take the quiet life in a course we don't want to go. To enter the stillness you have to abandon your life, give up control. You cannot be the god when you wait for the Real One. If we actually go to God we know we will no longer be able to call the shots. "If I go I won't get to decide independently, I'll have to accept His choice.and I 'll also be accountable."

Going involves deciding. Hearing involves obeying. "If I run hard enough I won't have to go and hear so I don't have to decide or obey." It's slavery because you make activity your taskmaster rather than God your master, and you are the one whose hand is on the whip, lacerating your own soul in a madness to avoid God.
Is it dread of responsibility or accountability? If you are busy you never have to stop and think about what you do or who you are. And you don't have to face the responsibility of obeying what you have found and heard.. You must act on knowing so if you never know you can do as you please.
Someone said, "It is a big NO to yourself to give God one quiet hour. Some people just refuse to say NO to themselves."

Movement out of anxiety makes the heart hard.

Activity from stillness produces humility.

Is this bowing so difficult or frightening that we would prefer to forgo His presence?

The ultimate question is: what do you want? Relationship with God and wonderful excitement of a life filled with His purpose and His way? Or do you want your own will, to have lived in futility and to die with nothing?

If you want God you will push through your own obstacles and apprehend the grace that His loving kindness continually offers. He woos us all, infuses us with such desire that you have to fight tooth and nail to resist it.
The choice is laid on the table Though the path into a life of stillness is not easy, the Lord makes it possible with our simple yes..

Copyright ©  John Enslow