Our Noise.

Thursday, December 02, 2010
Our Noise. I am a Youth Pastor fulltime at one of the greatest churches in the world. I love my ministry, and it’s my life. I also drive a school bus in Cabot, Arkansas. I have done this for several years, and God continues to give me so many opportunities to share Him on the bus with my students there. It never fails, at least once a day, that someone will try to have a long conversation with me. The only problem is, there are about 60 other students having conversations, which, of course, produces noise.
It’s hard for me to focus when there’s a lot of noise. Maybe I’m an undiagnosed ADHD. Maybe I have a hearing problem. Or maybe it’s just called being a human. It just seems that I have an extremely difficult time hearing what one person is saying to me in the midst of great noise and chaos. Oh, it isn’t that I don’t try. I really try. I focus as hard as I can on what that one person is saying. But as hard as I may attempt to hear them, sometimes it just isn’t possible with everything going on around us.
Our lives are really noisy, aren’t they? We have work, school, family, hobbies, not to mention everything else we deem necessary to our lives. Our day begins with an alarm clock and the noise continues right up until the time we go to sleep at night, or so it seems anyway. Constant noise – constant activity. And I believe the entire time God is whispering, “Here I am…can you hear Me?”
He was a great prophet – a great spokesman for God. He had spoken some fairly unwelcomed things in regards to the king and queen about their moral bankruptcy. This caused a bit of a problem for this man of God, and the queen decided she wanted him dead. So he fled. (Did you notice my unintentional rhyme? I'm a poet and don't know it...okay, enough corniness...let's continue...) He made his way to a cave in the mountains. That’s when God’s voice came to him, “Come to the entry of the cave, I’m about to pass by.”
As he made his way to the mouth of the cave, an earthquake happened. It wasn’t God. Then a great fire happened. It wasn’t God. Then a great wind happened. It wasn’t God, either. And then, almost out of nowhere, came a still small voice – a gentle whisper. After all the noise and commotion, God chose to speak to His man in a soft, “you’ve got to be listening intently to hear Me” kind of voice. And that’s where he heard his comfort, “You are not alone.”
I often wonder how many messages I miss from Him because of the noise. Undoubtedly there are many of us that are living in a desert wasteland, and we need some comfort and strength spoken into our lives. He still does that, ya know…we just have to be listening. He won’t scream. He won’t shake the earth. He won’t silence everything else. He’ll whisper. The, question, then, is very simple: how often to you get away from the noise to hear Him?
So today, here’s a challenge: find a few minutes to quiet the noisy life that you live. Make an appointment with God today, and keep it. Make it all about Him and you. Pour your heart out to Him. And then be still – silent – and listen. Give Him a chance to speak to you through His love letter, the Bible, maybe through a Psalm or Proverb. And then listen. He’ll whisper. And the Voice you hear and the message He brings will no doubt be exactly what you need to hear…”You are not alone…”


That’s just a thought, and I welcome yours.
Until next time,
blake

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