What is all this noise about?

Ever wonder whatever happens to many thousands of "Our Father", "Hail Mary", and "Amen" that we say in our life time? Is there anybody listening to all our prayers on the other end, or are prayers just part of a tradition? Isn't it better if a prayer is more like what it should be like - a conversation? Why do we often feel like the only person talking in our relationship with God is us? Whatever happened to the God who spoke to His people, the God as we see Him in the Bible?


For those who genuinely think that all this talk about God talking to us is nothing more than figurative speech, I will have to admit that I too used to be one of you guys. There was a time not too long ago, when I would reach out for the phone directory to suggest a good psychiatrist to anybody claiming to hear God talking to them. "What do you mean God is whispering to somebody in the ears?", I used to think. Are we talking about the same God that the psalmist talk about, "Fire goes before him, consuming his foes on every side. His lightening illumines the world, the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth" (Psalm 97:3-5)? How could this God talk to one person without letting others hear the rumblings of of fire, wind, and earthquake? I didn't understand. So I always said my prayers, then got up and walked away. I walked away with the satisfaction that I did what I was supposed to do - that is, praying, then it was up to God to do what He needs to do - that is, getting me what I asked in prayer. 

I heard God while I was going through a tough time in my life. Naturally, the first thing that came to my mind was that my brain's fried with all the pressure and I have just gone crazy! It was like praying to somebody over the phone; when I stopped talking - I mean, praying, the person on the other end responded. It was not necessarily what I wanted to hear, nevertheless there was a response. And it was the voice that really got me, it was unlike anything I have ever heard. There was a subtle authority in the voice, but there was something more profound than that. I have every reason to believe that it was Love that I was hearing, it was the acoustic manifestation of love. So how did I find out that it was God talking, not me turning into the character of Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? Prophet Elijah rescued me, apparently he too heard the same voice, "Then the LORD said: Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will pass by. There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire—but the LORD was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound" (1 Kings 19:11,12). Like all of us, Elijah was also expecting to hear the voice of God in wind, earthquake and fire, but it came to him as "a light silent sound". 

So what is the point, am I trying to say that I am somebody special, that I am in the ranks of great prophets like Elijah? Actually it is quite the opposite, listening to the light silent sound of God is a humbling experience. It contrasts the "noises" we make in our daily lives - the show offs we put out with whatever the little we have. The Creator whispers and the creation yells. Why is it that we always demand our voices be heard, and scream on top of the guy standing and screaming next to us? Why do we feel so let down when our voices and opinions are lost in the mix? Why are we so angry that we refuse to speak any more to those who fail to hear us, those who ignore us? God, our Father talks to us all the time; He answers. But we refuse to listen, we let His voice go unheard. We allow His light silent sound to get lost in this noisy world. But He is not mad, He is not talking any louder, He is not frustrated that we keep ignoring His gentle voice. The creator of everything seen and unseen is humble, gentle, and noble, but we are not, many of us have even stopped trying to be humble, gentle or noble. If it is not humiliating to know that the omnipotent God has a light silent voice, then I don't know what is.

When we walk around complaining about the futility of praying due to a lack of response from the other end, we should also remember that God talk to us in a low voice, a voice so easy easy to miss or ignore. We need to clear out the worldly things from our mind when we talk to God - we need to stop thinking, talking, doing; we need to stop worrying about family, health, job, school, friends, clothes, car, house; we need to focus away from email, Facebook, text messages, what's on TV, what to eat, where to eat. When was the last time any of us had ten minutes of absolute silence after prayer? From MP3 to PS3, and from Surround sound to Bluetooth, we live in a noisy world. We live in a world where we pay to hear the sounds of nature that relaxes and soothes - the gentle breeze, the running streams, calm waves of the ocean. Nowadays, we don't listen to anything unless it's been put through an amplifier to adjust bass and treble. 

Yes, God talk to us, everyone of us, but we don't hear it because we don't listen. We don't even believe that God talk to us. We need to quiet down to hear God. Instead getting up and walking away as soon as the prayer - a long list of things to do, addressed to God - is over, perhaps we should stay there in silence for a few minutes, anticipating a response. "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). 

God is always beneath us and we must kneel to find Him. (Jewish proverb)