God of Quiet

We often talk about the 400 or so years between the Old Testament and the New Testament, a 400-year period of relative silence while the people of God tried to hold onto the promise but had very little new information to go on. Nothing big, anyway. 

And we talk about the era we're currently living in as another long period of silence from God. This one, we call the "already but not yet" - Christ has already accomplished it, but we're waiting for its fulfillment. This is further intensified by the fact that a group of men met a couple thousand-ish years ago and decided to close the canon - that is, they declared that the Bible was complete and done and nothing could ever be added to it, which leaves us with no opportunity to "officially" add to God's testimony and Word. 

In other words, they effectively told us that God isn't speaking anything new any more. What we have is what we have and now, it's just about waiting and believing and holding onto what we know. 

There's a great danger in this, if that isn't already obvious to you. The danger is that when we are not actively listening for God's voice because we don't expect to hear it, then...we stop hearing it. 

Isaiah says, in a message from the Lord, "Is it because I have been quiet for so long that you no longer fear me?" (57:11) In other words, the prophet was asking the people if they had lost touch with the Lord because He wasn't speaking to them. 

And I think that's the case in our present age.

We think that we're living in this period of long silence from God - the already, but the not yet - where we have all the information we think He's going to give us, and we're all trying to build a faith on what's been said before and what's been promised for later and trying to hold on somewhere in the middle where yes, it's quieter. I mean, there's no Messiah walking our streets performing miracles everyday and there are no disciples/apostles gathering the masses to build something new and I've watched a lot of clouds in my life, but haven't seen Anyone coming back riding on them yet, so...it's quiet. 

Or is it?

I think we've become so accustomed to the idea that God has done all of His speaking until the Day comes that we have His voice in the distant past and we have it in the promised future, but we're missing it right here. 

Friends, do you know that God is still speaking in our world? He is still speaking truth to hearts that need to hear it. He is still speaking love to those who need to know it. He is still speaking grace to those who need to receive it. Miracles are still happening every day. Prayers answered. 

We may not be adding them to the canon, and we may not be revolutionizing our whole interpretation of God's love on them, but God's voice is among us. It is present and active, just like His word; living, sharper than any double-edged sword, cutting through right to the hearts of our being...if we were just listening. 

The problem is that we've been so convinced we're living in a "quiet for so long" that we have lost our ability to listen, for the most part. We have lost our ability to hear. And because of it, we are losing our ability to believe. 

Do we no longer fear - or love, honor, worship, crave - the Lord because we believe He has been quiet for so long? 

Then open your ears and listen, for the Lord is still speaking among us.