Do you know someone who is a Justin Bieber fan? My daughter is crazy about him. She has posters of him in her room and she loves his music. She was dying to see the new music video for his song “Pray” when it hit the internet. She dragged me in to watch it because the video gave a strong implication he might be a Christian, which would just seal the deal on him being the greatest ever in her mind. I sat there halfway paying attention to his video, but was struck by something he had on the screen at the end of the song. It read “God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer.” I don’t know if Justin is the one credited with saying it or if he simply put it in his video, but there is great truth in those two sentences.
Our American culture is extremely chaotic on any given day. Our “to do” lists seem to be longer than our arms. There are places to go, people to see and things to do. As a culture, we rarely have dinner sitting around a table with our families. In fact, more meals are consumed in our cars and out of bags than around our tables on plates. With this being our culture’s standard, it is easy to understand why so many people say “I don’t ever hear God speak to me.” Now add the cultural practices of Christmas on top of everything else and it is easy to see how Jesus gets lost and Christmas no longer seems to be about Christ.
If you are celebrating the Christ child at Christmas, it is because you are intentional about it. It is because you are making time to sit still before the Lord and focus on Him [Psalm 46:10]. If we want to hear God speak to our souls, then we must find a quiet place and wait upon the Lord [Isaiah 40:31]. When we do, He will reveal things to us we would never experience otherwise [Jeremiah 33:3].
God isn’t in a hurry. He has all the time in the world to accomplish His purposes. He will not adjust Himself to our timetable. If we truly want to hear from Him, we must adjust ourselves to His timetable.
If you will choose to find a quiet place today and settle yourself before the Lord, He will meet you there. Christmas will never be the same. Shhhhhh! He’s about to speak.