Often, I lie in my bed, motionless. I can’t go to sleep but I can’t sustain being awake. I just lie there.
Sometimes, I think maybe the fact that I can’t sleep is a prompt to prayer. So I pray for whatever I feel is put on my heart and usually get to sleep. Other times, I just lie there and take everything in.
I listen to the noises of midnight. I hear the thunder and the howling winds. I hear the rain lashing down on the world below. I hear cars and vans and lorries driving off into the distance, hurrying along with their schedules. Sometimes I hear people talking, or music in a Doppler effect passing by. I hear the clicks of the cat’s paws as she walks in and out of my room. I hear the sounds of the night time. Sometimes I hear nothing. Sometimes I lie in the silence. I turn my head to gaze out of the window. I see dark colours. Occasionally I see the stars. I see the moon in all it’s beauty.
And in the quiet, I reflect on things. I think of my family and my friends and I thank God for them. For He is in them. I pray for those who do not yet know salvation through Jesus. I pray that i’d be able to make a difference in this world. God is in the difference. I think of the beauty of nature and I thank God for He is in the magnificence. I think of the misty horizons of the future and I pray for guidance, for God creates my future. I think to my life. I thank God for another day that He’s given me. I thank Him that once again I can rest my head in this place. I thank Him for my safety and my freedom and for all He has provided for me. I thank Him for loving me. God is love.
Sometimes, I just tell Him about my day. God knows it all already, but sometimes I just like to tell Him and talk with Him. And in the quiet stillness, He meets with me. God is always there for me with open arms, whatever the circumstances that have happened or no matter how bad the day might have felt.
It reminds me of that passage of scripture in 1 Kings 19:
The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:11-13 NIV)
God is meeting with Elijah. So Elijah is waiting on the mountain and there’s a wind so harsh that its splitting rocks. But God wasnt in the wind. And then, there was an earthquake, but God wasn’t in that either. After that came a fire but, again, God wasn’t in it. And then came a gentle whisper. And God was in that gentle whisper.
Sometimes, we look for God in extraordinary things, but we overlook where we can actually meet with Him. God doesn’t need to show off with extravagant events – Like with Elijah, He’ll often meet us in the quiet when we still our hearts. God is in the stillness.
