Silence, Noise, and Hearing God's Voice

Silence is God's playground.
Silence is God's garden.
Silence is God's loudspeaker.
If you have as much noise in your life as is common these days, it's unlikely you thought of, much less take advantage of those three truths. Silence is very elusive. It's hard to find. Compounding this problem is the fact that many of us don't like it. We'd rather turn on the radio, or turn up the volume of our iPOD. Silence in conversation is usually interpreted as awkwardness.
Silence, a close relative of solitude, is a spiritual discipline. Some people may know this, but few people seem to practice it.
However, we often complain that God is distant from us, that He's not speaking, that our spiritual lives are dry and lifeless. Every time I've said that recently, I've reminded myself of this: It's more likely that I'm not listening, than that God's not speaking. Because every time I go to a quiet place with the intent to listen to Him, He always seems to speak.
It is possible to hear God past the excessive noise that is so often present in our lives. However, it's difficult, and it's an advanced listening skill. To learn it, we first have to master basic listening, which is listening without noise. This means that anyone who wants to hear God, who wants to know God, must put a priority on silence. At least once a day, turn off your TV, radio, iPOD, cell phone, computer, and whatever else makes noise in your life, and go to a place where you're alone. Wait for God to speak.
If you're not willing to do that, then prepare yourself for long periods of spiritual dryness. The only way to eliminate spiritual silence is to create physical silence.
Silence is God's canvas.
Silence is God's introduction.
Silence is God's time.

QotRTP

"Maybe there's a connection between the amount of noise in our lives and our inability to hear God."

Rob Bell

Procrastination, Today, and Redeeming the Time

"I'll do it later."
I've said or thought those words too many times in my life. They are the words of someone who's addicted to procrastination. Now I'm trying to recover from my compulsion. I'm trying to have the character quality of what I like to call "Doitnowness."
To be honest, sometimes my procrastination doesn't seem to result in any negative effects. What difference does it make if I call today or tomorrow to schedule my dentist appointment? Or if do my homework assignment the day before it's due or the day it's due?
But there are other times it has been costly, such as the time I waited too long to get the oil changed (misreading the dipstick didn't help) and soon after needed a new engine.
What's harmful about procrastination is not necessarily whatever negative results may happen, but the attitude itself. It keeps us from living fully right now. It's the ultimate slippery slope, especially when it becomes habitual. Because, if I've already put it off from yesterday to today, why not wait until tomorrow? Before I know it, it's been two weeks -- or two years.
That's because life is lived a day at a time, and today is all we ever really have. I don't live for God tomorrow, I live for Him today.
Doitnowness is the same attitude that says with Ephesians 5:16, "Making the most of every opportunity..." or, as another translation renders it, "Redeeming the time..."
There are some things that should be put off until tomorrow, until the proper time to do them. Doitnowness says, don't put off until tomorrow what you should do today. And don't put it off until tomorrow if it would simplify your life to do it right now. It won't get any easier to do...it never does. It's always easiest, and best, to do it right now.

QotRTP

"To live and to love will always be dangerous, but it's better than playing it safe. Would you want it any other way?"

Kendall Payne

QotRTP

"God's love is vast and filled with unending applications."

Jenae Sprague

Cars, Walking, and the Journey of Life

I walked to the church office this morning.
I think it's a little over a mile. It's not that difficult, and I enjoy it. When we drive places, it's more convenient, more sheltered from the elements, and we don't realize how far we've traveled. Walking is unique because it forces me to have a different outlook on life. It gives me an idea of how far the trip really is, helps me enjoy God's creation, and helps me be realistic about the journey.
Life is a journey. Often, we live like we're driving a car around. We want to leave now, have few problems on the way, and get there quickly. But life doesn't fit into our highway trip itinerary. Walking is a much more natural approach to life. In fact, much of life is more mountainous and difficult. There are many kinds of terrain that it's not possible to drive a car through. That's when we need to put on our walking shoes, grab our walking stick, and start moving. How do we get there? One step at a time.
The thing about life's difficulties is that they actually provide more potential for us to enjoy it. Why? Because God created us to climb mountains, to overcome challenges, and to go somewhere worth going.
The other reason I like walking is that it's worth doing as an activity, even without a destination. I'd much rather invite someone to walk with me than to take a drive. We don't always have to be going somewhere. However, a lot of people live like it, and spend all their time in a great hurry to go nowhere.
I don't know about you, but I'd much rather go somewhere slowly than go nowhere fast.

The Game of Tag, God, and Desperate People

You'll never truly know God unless you pursue Him.
The irony of this is that God has already pursued you, and your pursuing of Him is just a response to His initiative. It's kind of like a divine game of tag, with our souls at stake.
The problem is not that God doesn't play the game; He does, of course, because He invented the game, and has been playing it since the creation of the world. The problem is that we don't play. We're so caught up in our own lives, our own concerns, and our own schedules, that we don't feel His tag. Or we're so lazy and apathetic that we don't respond to it.
The other problem is that God is really difficult to catch and tag. This isn't because He enjoys frustrating us...it's because He wants to know that we're determined and that we will stop at nothing to be with Him. Until we find that determination, God will be very elusive to us.
It's time to stop accepting counterfeits, or even just part of who God is, and chase His fullness. It's time to stop ignoring the ache in our souls, or try to find some cheap substitute for it, and let it drive us to desperation.
One of the ironic truths of the spiritual life is that spiritual discontentment and desperation are good things. Desperate people seem to be the only people who find God. It is a different kind of person who prays for divine discontent and desperation.
If you listen carefully, you may hear a still small voice saying, "Tag! You're it!"

QotRTP

"We talk grandly about where He has been and what He has done, but we can say very little about what He is doing among us today."

Tommy Tenney in The God Chasers