Thursday, March 1, 2012

Addicted to Noise - Pastor Sean

“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” (Psalm 46:10 NLT)

Do you hear it?  The sound in the background as you read this entry. Go ahead focus for a moment on the noise around you. Unless you happen to be hidden away in a soundproof cave (with rocking wifi) silence is most likely not surrounding you.

We have become accustomed to constant sound, rarely do we find place to enjoy silence and hear God speak. We are overloaded with a cacophony of entertainment and information.

Constant noise keeps us from learning about God and ourselves.  But, we are addicted to it.  Headphones in, tv on, phones always to our ears.  At some point we have to stop and enjoy silence.

Think about this simple illustration.  Let's say I invited a guest to my home.  Within a few minutes of arriving the guest hangs pictures of scantily clad women on the wall, tells my family that dads are stupid, and encourages doing the opposite of just about everything God says to do.  How long will the guest remain welcome in my home?

 Yes, the Internet and television can be beneficial tools.  But we need to  evaluate the sound. Do we give too much influence to noises that detract from the voice of God.

When God told the Israelites to be still...He meant for them to listen and follow His plan. Today, limit  being inundated with so much noise that you aren't able to rely on God.

Silence won't make all problems stop or cause issues to fix themselves but it does provide opportunity to hear from God.

Romans 15:4 reads, "Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled."  Being still helps us wait.

So if it's noisy, seems like the world is crashing in around you, the hope in Scripture is: don’t flinch in your faith.  Listen and stand still — not because of your confidence, not because you are an emotional rock in the middle of storms, and not because “you’ve seen it all.”

Be still, revel in the silence, because of what you know about God.

1 comment:

  1. Powerful! Sometimes we feel we can function by hearing Gods voice in all this noise when simply we need to close of some time throughout the day to listen beyond the noise. Brilliant!

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