NOISE

Be still and know that I am God... —Psalm 46:10

"With our whole heart, soul, mind, strength and fortitude; with our whole understanding, powers, effort, affection, and feeling; with every desire and wish, let us love the Lord our God who gives each of us our body, our soul, our life; who creates, redeems, and saves us by mercy alone; who does all good for us, the miserable, wretched, rotten, and ungrateful. Let us desire nothing else, want nothing else, delight in nothing else, except our Creator, Redeemer and Savior who alone is good; who alone is holy. Let nothing hinder, separate, or come between us."

—St. Francis of Assisi

Quiet moments are hard to come by these days! Noise, noise and more noise fill our ears everywhere. At home we have the tv, radio, internet, children's voices and phones ringing....in the car we have the same type of noise.....in the work place, grocery stores and malls....noises surround our lives. It's hard to get away from the noise and find quietness. But the good news is that in the midst of all the noise.....God is still speaking....still seeking our attention! Can you hear Him or are other voices and noises more important to you? What voices are you listening to? Are they more important to you than your Heavenly Fathers voice?

Jim Burns wrote in his email devotional..."You must quiet your heart in order to learn how to listen to God's voice. Discovering ways to nurture the practice of silence in our lives is part of the necessary journey into really living as a Christ-follower. Finding quiet for even a moment or two gives us an opportunity to train our hearts, ears and lives to hear a far sweeter voice. Silence teaches us to listen to the songs of God. The Holy Spirit sings a melody of transformation not condemnation. The Spirit sings a melody that speaks the words of eternal life to the seeking heart."

Quietness.....solitude.....settling down our thoughts......none of these are easy for us in our busy lives, but we must seek to find God's voice again. We must train our spiritual ear to discern His voice and be obedient to respond when we hear His voice. There are a couple of questions that we should ask ourselves when we do hear His voice in those quiet moments:

1. What is God telling me?

2. How should I respond to what He is telling me?

Psalm 131 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,my eyes are not raised too high ….But I have calmed and quieted my soul,like a weaned child with its mother;my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.

John Ortberg says that......"The psalmist says this is a picture of my soul. I have learned to still my heart. There has been a spiritual weaning process so that I am no longer at the mercy of my desires and reflexes and demands. God is becoming more than just the Meeter of My Needs. I am entering into a new era listening. I have stilled my soul. Stillness is always a prerequisite for receptivity. Telephones and television sets cannot receive messages when they are too filled with static and noise. Stillness first, then listening. The order cannot be reversed. 'Be still, and know that I am God,' quotes the psalmist."

Do you remember playing the game 'hide and seek' when you were younger? The fun of that game was in the finding of the person or item that was hidden. God wants us to seek him. But He understands that the real joy is not in seeking, but in finding. He wants to be found and we don't even have to look very far before we see Him....with His arms open wide and ready to spend some much needed quiet time with us. WOW....who else do you know that is there...waiting....ready.....and willing to give us their undivided attention to us every time we ask!!

Are you intentionally seeking the God who is always seeking you?