Too Loud to Hear

Read

Psalm 1:1-2 "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night."

Think

Picture this. You are trying to tell your friend something important, but the TV is blasting, a dog is barking, and somebody is running the blender. You say it again, louder. They still cannot hear you. It is not that you are quiet. It is that everything else is too loud.

Sometimes hearing God is like that. God is speaking through his Bible and the world he made. But our lives get so full of noise that we never slow down enough to pay attention. Not the noise of blenders and dogs. The noise of being busy, being on a screen all the time, and never stopping to think about God at all.

Yesterday we saw that God speaks through the world he made. Today’s verse shows us something we have to do on our side. It says the happy person delights in God’s words and thinks about them day and night. That takes some quiet. That takes turning down the other noise on purpose.

Notice what the verse says the happy person does not do. They do not just go along with whatever the crowd is doing. They do not park themselves where the people who make fun of God hang out. Instead, they choose something better. They choose to fill their minds with God.

Here is the good news. You get to decide what your mind soaks up. You can pick up your phone the second you wake up, or you can take one quiet minute first to remember a Bible verse or thank God for something. You can fill every empty moment with a screen, or you can leave a little room to think about God and his words.

Now, being quiet does not mean sitting there waiting to hear a voice out loud. Remember, that is not how God usually speaks. Being quiet means turning off the noise so you have room to think about a Bible verse, notice the good world God made, or pay attention to a kind and godly thought. When we make that room, we find God was close the whole time.

Apply

Turn down the noise – Find five quiet minutes today with no screen and no music. Instead of just sitting, use the quiet to think about one Bible verse, or thank God for three things. That is what making room for God really looks like.

Pray

God, my life gets so noisy sometimes that I forget all about you. Help me turn down the noise and make room to think about your words and your world. Thank you that you are always close. In Jesus’ name. Amen.