In Revelation 8:1-4, in the midst of breaking of the seven seals and as the scroll of history is set to be fully unraveled, right before the trumpets of God’s judgment are sounded, there is an interesting verse. Verse 1 – "there was silence in heaven for about half an hour." Silence is such a rare thing in our noisy world. Cell phones ringing, IM pops, email notifications, music blaring from our car stereos, the relentless droning of ads from the tube.
The other day, I wanted to take a break from my hectic work day and take a nice prayer walk at a park near my work. I was looking forward to it. I wanted a moment of peace to calm my mind and focus on God. But as I was walking, a few steps behind me, there was a woman on a cell phone talking very loudly. I had to focus on walking very briskly so that I could create some distance between us so that I would not have to listen to her conversation. Where can we find some peace and quiet so that we can fellowship with God?
In the midst of our noisy world and feeble attempts to pray to God, the amazing thing is that God listens. He silences even the heavenly sounds of worship so that he can listen to the "prayer of all the saints" (verse 4). Finding time to pray is hard. Quieting our distracted thoughts seems impossible. But be encouraged! God listens to our prayers. He even silences all worship in heaven so that He can give us His undivided attention.