Noise…

August 28, 2019

We live in a noisy world.  Our cell phones chirp, ding, ring, bark, honk, moo, quack….the list goes on.  I don’t know the last time I sat through anything where a phone did not make a sound.  Church included.  We get in the car and the radio plays, cars honk, children squeal.  Go to the movies and it’s surround sound loud enough to be heard 1/2 mile away (they have amazing soundproofing!).  We go to bed and a text comes through, the traffic bleeds through the windows, the storms hit. It’s a noisy world.

And God says…“Find rest, O my soul, in God alone.” Psalm 62:5

Our minds continually “make noise”…we worry, we fret, we finagle, we justify, we imagine, we……..fill in the blank.

Yet God said... “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the LORD rescue you today.”  Exodus 14:13

We watch the world around us and complain that nothing is good, people are evil, everyone hates each other, how did we get to this point in our country?

Yet God says…“Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.” Psalm 37:7 

I recently had an MRI (not my favorite thing).  They have you lay flat, give you earphones, play your favorite music, and slide you into a tube where you get to spend the next 45 minutes lying very still.  It’s very quiet for a bit then a “jackhammer noise” goes off for several seconds.  Then quiet…then jackhammers…then quiet…then jackhammers.  You get the picture. Just as the music begins to calm you the noise interferes.  The worries are slipping away, the concern of the “what ifs” are being swallowed by the soothing music.  BUT…the noise interjects…disturbs…swallows up the calm.

Yet God says…“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken.”  Psalm 62:5-6

I won’t lie to you…our lives have been really noisy these last few months.  There has been a lot of anxiousness about what the future holds.  Noise…

Yet God says…“I am your refuge and strength, a great help in times of distress. Therefore we will not be frightened when the earth roars, when the mountains shake in the depths of the seas, when its waters roar and rage, when the mountains tremble despite their pride.”  Psalm 46:1-7

When the noise of life threatens to overtake you, listen to those words…take comfort in them.  The earth may roar, the mountains may shake, the storms may come.  You may feel completely overwhelmed…

Yet God says…”Do not be afraid…I am your refuge…I am your strength…I am your help”

Those are the words that calm my spirit, and whisper that everything is going to be ok.  Listen to the words of our Creator, the one who loves us more than we can imagine.  Let His words be the quiet you need when the noise of life hits.

 

Listen to His Voice,

Lee Ann

“The quieter you are the more you hear”     -Ram Dass

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