Silence amidst the noise

Can you hear that?
Can you hear the whispers of YHWH, the whispers of God? (1 Kings 19:11-13) He is speaking, with so much to tell...Do we ever just sit in silence? Do we ever listen...really listen? Or we all so concerned about ourselves and all that buzzes around us that we have no room to be still?
Do we spend all of our energy on things that are fleeting that we don't have any energy left to sift through the talking to hear what someone is really saying...or to dig through the muddy noise of the humming computer, over stimulating Television, and endless cell phone chatter that we can't understand that there is a message so much more fascinating that is behind all that noise?
Recently I have been thinking over the endless noise and chatter of our culture. Our culture is one of constant noise and constant talk.
Much like how musicians or frequent concert goers often go deaf from the intense noise, I can't help but wonder with all of the constant noise around us...are we a deaf people?
I am fully aware that the majority of us don't even know how to be silent. Try it. Silence can be awkward, even to the point that we cannot be silent even with ourselves without turning to some distraction. Are we scared of what we might hear in the silence? Either from our own hearts, the hearts of others...or even the heart of God?
I have so many conversations about the message of Jesus always being counter cultural, as it still is today.
Could we encounter culture in a contemplative fashion and seek God in the hidden places of stillness, therefore being counter cultural in this way as well?
There are rich secrets God longs to tell us, he is just waiting.
And in this place of stillness, there will be tears, but we cannot run from this...for there is joy that is behind these tears that have been waiting to be released from their imprisonment of denial. There will be things from this contemplative prayer that we will understand with all of our being, but cannot explain.
There is a rich inner life with God that awaits us, "I wait on the Lord, my soul waits..." Psalm 131:5
Let us be silent before him, and not only today, but let this be a way of life for us to be silent from within.
"But the Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him." -Habakkuk 2:20