Have you noticed how noisy the world has become? Everywhere we go, there’s music blaring, people are talking on their cell phones, mamas are yelling at their babies, and someone’s car alarm is going off. I believe the noise around us has reached an all-time high. The gas station even plays music at the gas pumps, for crying out loud.
The truth is that people do not want to be alone with their thoughts. Even truer is the fact that the devil does not want people to have the opportunity to hear God talking to them in that “still, small voice.” He does his best to drown it out with noise and other distractions.
Really, noise doesn’t even have to be audible. I mean, you could say that being inundated with all the pieces of information coming at us would qualify as a sort of noise. For example, think of all the “noise” we encounter on the web- even when the speakers are turned off. Words, words, words! Oh, the millions and billions of words! Discussions of what the latest reality star is wearing, video uploads of someone’s puppy chasing his tail, gossip about what some overpaid professional athlete might do as a free agent, news of the latest violent crime, fantasy football, online cooking videos, and on and on it goes. So we turn off the laptop… and then we hear the television in the background playing the Spongebob Squarepants theme song. Sigh.
Because of the noise level we constantly endure, it is more important than ever to just be still and silent. We simply have to be deliberate about our “quiet time.” We must remove ourselves from the noise so we can quiet our souls and really listen. You mean listen to the silence? Yep, listen to the silence. Focus on the Lord, and then from inside your spirit man you’ll hear Him speak. It might be faint at first, but as you continue to listen, it will become clearer and more easily heard. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman, and He’s not going to yell at you over the noise of the world- He talks so quietly that at first you must purposely tune your spiritual ear to hear Him. That’s why so many people- even people who profess to be Christians- believe that God doesn’t actually speak to people anymore. God talks to people who have ears to hear. He won’t trust His message to anybody- just those who seek Him with their whole heart. Sound kind of exclusive? Not really. It’s available to any born-again believer- but it requires effort. It requires deliberate silence, and a tuning of one’s heart to the frequency of God’s voice.
So, turn off the iPod, the radio, the cellphone, the television, the Xbox, and the computer. Put down the newspaper, the magazines, and the Kindle. And just sit. Quiet your heart and listen. In the midst of deliberate silence, God will speak a personal word for you- and you won’t even have to turn up the volume to hear Him.
– Janean
Jim & Janean Reish 