Can you hear me now?

In our earlier years of marriage, we lived in a home with no central heat and air. Our air and heating source came from a little, but loud, window unit that was in the wall of our den. When the compressor would kick in on that unit, it sounded like a 747 was about to land in our den! That unit was so loud it would shake the side of the wall! One night, it was operating loudly while Jodi was in the kitchen preparing our supper. Little did I know, she was calling out to me from the kitchen. The only problem was, I couldn’t hear her due to the loud noise! She came in the den and asked, “Beck, why aren’t you answering me?” To which I responded, “I couldn’t hear you!” The problem wasn’t that she wasn’t calling out my name; the problem was that I couldn’t hear her due to the noise! The noise had simply drowned out her voice!

I learned a valuable lesson that night (get rid of the air unit!). How many times has the Holy Spirit called out to us, only to find us unable to hear His voice due to the noise IN US and AROUND US?

In Psalm 131: 2, David says, “Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me.”

Many a souls are like a raging storm tossing and turning inside, unsettled by the noise from within. Many people’s lives are so loud with activity and peppered with busyness all the while Jesus is calling out, “Come away with me. Get away from the noise so that I may speak to you.” Sometimes, it takes us getting away from the noise of life so that we can “quite our souls”.

You may be asking yourself, “Why doesn’t God ever speak to me?”, while he is saying, “I’m trying.”

Get away, get quiet, and listen for the voice of God.