Quiet Please

“Don’t let the voice of God be drowned out by the pace of life.”

These are the words I heard when I was asking for a particular sin I committed a few weeks ago. My sin: God told me to go talk to a men I went to high school with and I did not because I was “distracted by my own issues.

Immediately I was convicted. I let the busyness of my life get in the way of God’s wishes.

Being quite such a rare thing anymore? We get into our vehicles and the first thing we do is turn on the music. We come into the empty house, how often do we turn the television on, or listen to something on social media for background noise. In a group of people someone always feels the need to say something, even to make small talk.

If we let things drown out God we will never hear His voice and it’s easy to get distracted by life and miss His voice. That’s what I did, I let life drown out the voice of God.

Silence makes many people uncomfortable. The fear of silence actually has a name: “sedate-phobia.” It seems like we have a epidemic of this phobia. The rapid development of technology has added to this problem. Many people actually experience of withdrawal if they are separated from external simulation even for a short time. I have definitely been like this lately. I haven’t been reading and praying as I should. And I missed God’s voice. Being tuned into God‘s voice. I second-guessed God’s voice and chose to do something different. In my book, there is no excuse for what I did.

The consequences of discomfort with silence reach beyond physical or psychological implications. In filled the silence we drown out the voice of God in our lives.

In my prayer group, we have said “God use us for Your purposes. God tried to use me, and I failed the test. The truth is God is speaking to us through the Bible. His Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit prompting us with convictions, thoughts, and ideas to provide guidance and direction. But, it we are dependent on a wall of sound to dull our senses, we shouldn’t be surprised that we miss what God is saying to us.

I believe our dependence on background noises causes us to become obsessed with seeking God’s dramatic moves because he is now competing with all the other sounds and stimulation in our world. Are we convinced that if God is speaking, it must sound like a strong wind, an earthquake, a roaring fire, and if it doesn’t, then it must not be God.

Instead of filling the silence what would happen if we intentionally build periods of silence into our day. Not nap time but being quiet without external stimulation. maybe such times will be easier for us to hear and recognize God’s “low whisper.” that still small voice.