My favorite sport is baseball.  My dad played baseball in high school.  My brother, my husband, and my son played baseball; and now, my oldest grandson plays baseball with my other grandsons surely to follow suit.  And, next to watching and going to an actual baseball game, there are baseball movies! 

One of my favorites is “For the Love of the Game” with Kevin Costner.  In this movie, he is a major league pitcher who is debating if it is time to call it quits and retire from the game.  One of his famous lines in the movie is “Clear the mechanism.”  When Costner is on the mound, he says this phrase to block out all the noise and distractions of the crowd.  These words help him to focus on the task at hand—pitching and winning the game.

The other morning, I was driving to work when out of nowhere, these words came to mind “Silence the mechanism.”  I thought, “What?  Silence the mechanism?”  Of course, I thought of the movie (later remembering it was actually “Clear the mechanism”), but at that moment, I knew this was a word for me, and I needed to listen.

The scripture that came to mind was Psalm 46:10a, “Be still, and know that I am God….”   My mind became flooded with phrases like “Be still.  Clear your mind.  Turn off the noise.  Listen.”

I don’t work with or teach children; however, years ago one of the techniques that I learned that could be used to get the attention of a group of kids was to lower my voice in speaking to them.  In doing so, the children would have to stop talking to hear what I was trying to tell them. 

In I Kings 19, we read about Elijah.  Elijah is in a cave wallowing in self-pity, thinking that he was the only man left who was passionate for the Lord, but thought that he was about to be taken out by this crazy woman named Jezebel who wanted to kill him.  Elijah had the noise and voices of discouragement and lies speaking so loud in his mind that he couldn’t hear the one voice that He needed to hear the most—the voice of Almighty God!

The Lord told Elijah to go and stand on the mountain.  A great and strong wind tore through the mountains and broke the rocks, but the Lord was not in the wind.  An earthquake came but the Lord wasn’t in the earthquake.  A fire came but the Lord was not in the fire.  But after the fire, there was a low whisper and Elijah heard it.  He heard the still small voice of God.

I have often wondered why God allowed the great wind, the earthquake, and the fire.  Could it be that God had to bring Elijah to the place to “clear/silence the mechanism?”  Could it be that just like speaking to a noisy group of kids, God needed to lower his voice to a whisper to get Elijah to stop and listen?

I know that I heard that still small voice while driving in that morning.  Was it an audible voice?  No, but it was a thought placed there by the Holy Spirit that was so strong that it might as well have been.  My morning had already been filled with an alarm going off, news on the television, text messages, the radio, conversations, etc.  And in the middle of all the distractions, I needed something to jolt me to be silent and listen.

We live in a world that constantly competes for our attention.  There are days that most of us feel like we haven’t had one quiet or still moment all day.  So, what do we do about it?  I am not the expert and am still learning how to carve out time to be still and listen.  However, I can suggest a few things that I have tried that works. 

1)      Turn off the radio while driving.  You would be amazed at what that 15-30 minutes of quiet time will do for you.

2)      Get up earlier, use your lunch hour, or stay up a little later to have time to be still and quiet.

3)      Go to your favorite place - the park, the waterfront, etc. to meditate.

God wants to communicate with His children.  But He will not yell or compete with the noise and chaos of our lives.  Yes, He may allow us to go through what seems to be like a great wind, an earthquake, or fire to slow us down.  God may allow difficult circumstances so that we will shift our focus to Him and listen for His voice.

Even though I have been a Christian for many years, I still have so much room for growth and so much to learn.  But, if I don’t know anything else, I know this: 

I want to hear God. 

I need to hear God. 

I desperately need God.