Mute!

“My hair looks really good, I don’t think I’ll shower this morning, ” announced Ian as he stared at his image on his computer screen. Looking over his shoulder during his zoom class, I first noticed the smirks from his classmates and then in the next moment realized why… Ian was not muted when he made his proclamation.  OOOPs.  

The Mute Button

How ironic …that as I write this, the news of the day includes the fact that the presidential debate will, for the first time, include a mute button.  Don’t you wish you had control over a mute button in your life? Vitriol, negativity and untruth, MUTE. Anger, slander, profanity, MUTE. Hate, racism, judgement. MUTE. Stupidity, MUTE.

You do it, God.

Better yet, because my discernment is human and flawed, imagine if God did the muting. Our God who is impartial, loving and trustworthy. The Lord who is both perfectly just and perfectly merciful. Our Father who sees us as children of the same family, covered by blood of Jesus, whether liberal or conservative, gay or straight, rich or poor, black or white or red or yellow.

Galatians 3:28 In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are ALL equal.  

I don’t  have to go out on a limb to suggest, that if division is a tool of the enemy, HE IS HAVING A FIELD DAY! We’re surrounded by chaotic and divisive noise; no wonder it’s difficult to hear God’s voice. 

Shhhhhhhhh

Have you ever tried to quiet a loud room? Attempting to yell above the crowd usually doesn’t work. It’s far more effective to hush the crowd with a shhhh. That’s the method God employs. His whisper quiets us, calms us, stills us. 

White noise, by definition, is a sound that contains every frequency a human can hear. In other words… it takes over. The “white noise” in our lives may be the single greatest threat to our peace. The way I see it, because it contains every frequency, it’s challenging to decipher a specific frequency — especially the still, small voice of God.

Your life is too LOUD

When our lives get loud, filled with a constant news cycle, social media, busy-ness and non-stop distractions, the noise fills every frequency. May I boldly suggest that especially in 2020, your life is too loud!  

When our lives get loud, they overwhelm God’s voice.  We become vulnerable to lose not only our way, but also our peace. 

How can we cope?

So how can we cope in this noisy world? In my experience, if you want to know the heart of God, be silent. If you want to awaken the Spirit of God, be still. God often speaks loudest when we are the quietest and most willing to yield to Him.

Prayer Time

This week on several separate occasions, I prayed for our city, state and country. And each time I did, I spent time being quiet. In the quietness… an amazing thing happened. I heard His voice.  

John 10:27,28 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.

Since His voice wasn’t audible, how can I be sure it was Him?  Because, in spite of the chaos that persists, my peace has been restored. I have renewed confidence of what’s true.

Our future is not an outcome. Our future is a God who hung the stars in place and spoke the world into being. The One who watches billions of sparrows hatch and numbers the hairs on our heads. Since when does the peace of our house depend on who lives in the White House? No matter what, God will still be in charge.  

1 Chronicles 16:31 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”

Lord, The noise in our world has drowned out your voice. With heavy hearts, our peace feels fragile and our security threatened. Forgive us for caring too much about the outcome as if Your will could be thwarted. Help us to Be Still so we can Know you are God. Thank you for the gift of  reclaimed peace and security.  Thank you that even though we’re still feeble sheep, Your Holy Spirit enables us to hear Your voice and follow You. Good Shepherd, we need you and love you. Please reign in our hearts as well as our land. Amen.