"Keep silent before Me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength. Let them come near..." Isaiah 41:1a
There is an eighth deadly sin out there. It is called "noise," i.e., to commit noise or to have an inner disposition of noisiness. It is to have, or create an atmosphere conducive to, an inner state of such convoluted confusion and chaos created by the trappings of this world that there is no "room" for God to work or even move. You have no space left for Him. His still-small voice is drowned out in a barrage of useless inner baggage: "How do I look?" "How can I get ahead?" "When can I get the latest?" "Why don't I have the latest ?" "How can I be so stupid?" "How am I going to pay for that?" "I wonder who won the game?" "Why did I lose the game?" "Why did he/she say that?" "Why can't I be like them?" "Why can't I look like them?" "How can I get back at them?" "How can I get back at me?" "Why does this always happen to me?" Everyday (from TVs, radios, movies, CD players, iPods, restaurant and department store sound systems, magazines, genre fiction, self-help books, our friends, our "friends," our parents, our siblings, ourselves) we are absolutely bombarded with noise in a hellish attempt to create noise within us as well as around us. God cannot woo a noisy soul; He has to take a sledgehammer to it.
As Switchfoot sings, "What's it gonna take to slow us down? To let the silence spin us around?" Everything in this world (whether it be good, bad, or indifferent) is designed to distract you with yourself or itself, or both. How beautiful is the silence (both inwardly and outwardly) that lets us come near to God! Are you wearied with noise? Pray to your Father, and He will raise up this standard against it: "Keep silent before Me, O noise; and let my child renew their strength. Let them come near..." Such silence is a peace that passes all our understanding.
"Be still, oh restless soul of mine.
Bow before the Prince of Peace.
Let the noise and clamor cease..."
(from Steven Curtis Chapman)
-Jon Vowell
There is an eighth deadly sin out there. It is called "noise," i.e., to commit noise or to have an inner disposition of noisiness. It is to have, or create an atmosphere conducive to, an inner state of such convoluted confusion and chaos created by the trappings of this world that there is no "room" for God to work or even move. You have no space left for Him. His still-small voice is drowned out in a barrage of useless inner baggage: "How do I look?" "How can I get ahead?" "When can I get the latest
As Switchfoot sings, "What's it gonna take to slow us down? To let the silence spin us around?" Everything in this world (whether it be good, bad, or indifferent) is designed to distract you with yourself or itself, or both. How beautiful is the silence (both inwardly and outwardly) that lets us come near to God! Are you wearied with noise? Pray to your Father, and He will raise up this standard against it: "Keep silent before Me, O noise; and let my child renew their strength. Let them come near..." Such silence is a peace that passes all our understanding.
"Be still, oh restless soul of mine.
Bow before the Prince of Peace.
Let the noise and clamor cease..."
(from Steven Curtis Chapman)
-Jon Vowell
1 comment:
Every once in a while, God has to reiterate an old lesson with me. It is as follows "Be still and know that I am God." We talk, talk, talk, always asking for a better deal. Lord, bless me here, God, help me with that. Sometimes we just need to silently contemplate His glory.
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