Topical Tuesday 27 - Creating Space

This evening at Endeavor I gave a message out of 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

In my message I suggested that in order to truly hear the voice of God and build into our relationship with him, we needed to create space in our lives. When God spoke to Elijah he wasn’t in the noisy things, he was in the silence. If our lives are so filled with noise then it makes it almost impossible to hear the voice of God. (A lot of these thoughts have been influenced by Rob Bell’s Nooma video Noise)

So there needs to be space in our lives for God to speak; there needs to be margin in which God can work. A relationship with God simply means that we have a connection, involvement or association with him and we can’t connect, involve or associate ourselves with God on a daily basis if he is drown out by all the noise.

As I was telling the students that they needed to create space in their lives, God convicted me and showed me areas where I could create a little more space in my life. I love Twitter and Facebook; I am constantly checking them. In all honesty, most of my day is spent connected to Twitter, either through my computer or phone. While I don’t feel it’s pulling me away from God, I know it creates a lot of noise in my life. So, for 24 hours beginning Wednesday, October 6, at midnight, I’m going to create some space by abstaining from Twitter and Facebook. I don’t have any huge expectations for God to speak to me, but if he’s going to, at least he’ll have the opportunity.

What noise can you cut out from your life to create some space for God?