Tuesday, April 7, 2015

The Cone of Silence

In place of our exhaustion and spiritual fatigue, God will give us rest. All He asks is that we come to Him...that we spend a while thinking about Him, meditating on Him, talking to Him, listening in silence, occupying ourselves with Him - totally and thoroughly lost in the hiding place of His presence.  Chuck Swindoll

When I was a kid we used to watch the show Get Smart.   For those of you not as old as me; this was a sitcom based on a secret government agency.  Did you know that it was created by Mel Brooks?  That might explain the absurdity of it.  The show was a cross between James Bond and Inspector Clouseau.  Maxwell Smart was Agent 86 and his partner was Agent 99.  The nemesis in the show was an organization called KAOS.  Instead of the modern day cell phone, Smart had a rotary dial phone in his shoe.  He was really inept at being a spy and his success depended more on luck than anything else.

One of my favorite devices in the show was the Cone of Silence.  Anytime Smart wanted to talk to Chief in private he would request the Cone of Silence.   It was a big plastic cone that would descend from the ceiling over the desk so they could talk in private.  The problem with the Cone of Silence was it never really worked properly. 

Other special agent devices included an olive radio transmitter, French bread triangulation device, coffee and donut radio, bowl of fruit microphone & tape recorder, parking meter telegraph and two of my favorites, fly microphone and the Closet of Silence that was used when the Cone of Silence had been rented out to the CIA.

I think sometimes when it comes to our communication with God, we need to utilize the Cone of Silence but our Cone of Silence doesn’t work properly either. How many times do you rush through your prayers to God and then run on to the next thing?  When it comes to our time with God we often forget that He wants us to listen, not talk.  Sometimes our prayers are short circuited because we aren’t listening for God’s voice.  I am guilty of getting so caught up in what I am saying, that I don’t listen for what God wants me to learn from just being silent in His presence. 

In one episode of Get Smart Max and the Chief enter the Cone of Silence, but so does a bee and the buzzing is so loud that it drowns out the conversation.  How many times have we allowed outside distractions to interfere with our communication with God?

I think I need to start my quiet time with God in the Cone of Silence.  Find your quiet place and just be still in His presence.  God wants to talk to you but it requires uninterrupted time and attention.  You will be amazed at what God will tell you in the Cone of Silence.
  
   
Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of talking over You.  When I should be listening for Your voice, I am often already thinking of the next thing I want to ask You.  Help me to value the time I spend with You and to spend the majority of it listening for Your voice. 
      

Scripture: I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.  Habakkuk 2:1


Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!  The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.  Psalm 46:10-11

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