I live in a hustle bustle world. I live in a very fast paced city. Everyone is always on the go. Everything is always moving. Life here is quite noisy.
My life is quite noisy. On an average day I have my ear buds plugged in jamming the latest and greatest on my Metro commutes, or periodically through out the work day. The average day will see me coming home to turn on my computer and my tv. My computer will play a tv show or music, while my TV plays a game. My mind is entrenched deeply in both. Heck, even as I write this I have music going. I can't even sleep without the sound of the fan above.
My life is very noisy. And I hate the quiet now. Not hate, more like I am annoyed by the quiet. And so this makes things a little difficult when I pray. See, I am expecting God to be as active in response to me, as my mind is in engaging in prayer. But God is oddly quiet lately.
And then it dawned on me tonight why God is so quiet. Once He spoke so loudly in my life, right? What happened to that? I believe it is the very fact that i have given my attention to so many things that are not God. I don't rest my mind or heart. I don't unplug from the noise. How can I hear His voice when all the voices of this world drown his out?
I look back at times of growth with my Lord. They are during times of isolation or solitude. Not solitude from people (even though that had to happen in one case), but solitude from the world. I look back at how the Lord saved me, in a time of solitude prayer. I look back at a time of immense growth and submission on the mission field. I was surrounded by people and scenery, but it all faded out in comparison to the Lord. I look back to when I was consumed with another person. God removed that relationship, to grow me beyond my shortsightedness. When I was stagnant in life and faith, he isolated me from all that gave me comfort and threw me into a new wilderness.
And now, I have allowed myself to slowly slip away, drawn by those things of this world....And He has isolated his voice from my life. Not his presence, but his voice. I can still feel Him, but simply cannot hear him. And odd experience, to say the least. I was very worried about this, until earlier. An old, familiar verse, but a powerful one at that, crept into my mind.
"Be still and know that I am God."
And so shall it be. I MUST do this. I must hear His voice speaking into my life again.
