We are a people who love noise. Don't think so, just try to quiet down a room full of people. What is the first thing we do when we walk into the house? We either turn on the television or the radio. Get in the car and a CD gets popped in. Most kids you see today have ear buds stuck in their ears, plugged into an ipod. Admit it, we just like noise. And we are the same way in church... especially those of us from the Pentecostal/Charismatic flavor. It's all about, "pump up the music" in our worship. We can be having a great time of worship, but let the music stop and within a few seconds, the worship stops as well. I've been wondering... "Why are we like this?" "Why are we people who crave... even require noise all the time?" I think I have the answer. When we are stilled, when we are quiet, we are confronted by two things:
1) Ourselves
2) Our God
When we stop, get silent and listen, then we are confronted with our own thoughts. Sometimes those thoughts may be beautiful. But lets be real honest... usually when we are left to our own devices, we are confronted by the ugly side of ourselves... and most of us cannot take that, so we hurry to find a party, a song, something on the TV... anything to distract us from ourselves. I don't care how good we think we are, when we are confronted with ourselves, even if no one else sees it, we see the ugliness and we don't want to deal with that. But I believe this is why God calls us to those quiet times. No, not to hurt us, but so that we might see why we need a savior. The Word calls out to us: "be still and KNOW that I am God." You see, only God can take that ugliness and turn it into something beautiful. But before we will ever deal with a blemish in our finish, we have to see it. So God calls us to a place of solitude and silence where it is just us... and him. Then he can reveal to us the chips, the scars, the blemishes that are in our lives and with his help and grace we together begin to deal with those issues. I believe Satan knows that this silence is necessary, so he has done his best to fill our lives with noise. He knows if he can keep us pre-occupied, we won't recognize the attitudes and other ugliness that has crept into our lives.
I think it is time we rediscover the absolute need for silence. We need to on a regular basis still and quiet our souls before the Lord and let His Holy Spirit speak directly to our hearts.
More on this later. I have to prepare for church today.
Blessings y'all!
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