God, King of the Universe

The alarm clock blared out extra early, but the excitement of the coming adventure powered me through my usual temptations to hit “snooze.” We shuffled out of the mission house, loaded up the family van, and bumped through the narrow streets of the sleepy town. Yawning but eager, the nine of us spilled out onto the trailhead and lined up for the hike that stretched before us. Headlamps affixed, we set out for the summit of the local hills overlooking General Cepeda, Mexico.

The night sky was filled with a multitude of stars, a reminder that the King of the Universe had been here before us, and was somehow also here with us now. We ascended the spine of the ridgeline, carefully side-stepping the local varieties of cacti and loose rocks. As we climbed higher, the blanket of the stars slowly faded to the familiar soft glow of another dawn—God’s most answered promise, a new day dawning.

In each of these spectacular reminders; the night sky, His creation under our feet, and the sunrise, not a sound was made. We waited patiently for the gradual illumination to erupt into the anticipated brilliant explosion of light from the horizon. As the light hit my eyes, another truth dawned on me. Here I am, a witness to these awe-inspiring events. I had a front-row seat to the cosmic orchestra, the decrescendo of the twilight giving way to the power and freshness of a new day. And here God was conducting these harmonic movements, ironically, in total silence, turning the globe, illuminating the skyline, and gradually transforming the cold morning air into a more tolerable temperature. The magnitude of the earth hurling through the heavens was without a sound. Amazing, if you think about it.

Faced with their impending exile to Babylon, Isaiah urged his fellow citizens of the Southern Kingdom (Judah) to discern well their next steps, “By waiting and calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies” (Isaiah 30:15). A few short verses later, Isaiah further proclaims, “While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears; ‘This is the way, walk in it’” (Isaiah 30:21). On the eve of historical change, God reminds His people to await the challenges ahead in quiet.

What astonishing power God has, especially in total silence.

What if we gave God, the King of the Universe, total silence in our lives, even for a moment or two? We don’t have to have the “quiet of a mountain-top sunrise” moment, but what if we gave Him the first few minutes, or even 15 minutes of our day in silence before the challenges and noise of the world show up? If He can guide the heavens and impress us with the majesty of the dawn without a sound being made, how much more could we benefit from His work within a “quieter” us?