There is so much noise all around us. So much of it is good noise that we need to hear and requires a response from us. But there is, amongst the noise, things that crowd out the good noise because of its volume, flashiness, expense, urgency. How do we determine what noise to listen to and how do we respond.
Yesterday Pita was playing basketball. He's on a highly competitive team where there is often a lot of noise. The crowd cheering on their team, team mates on the bench, team mates on the court, and coaches yelling out instruction. I was watching my boy play with so much heart and hustle but I could also tell he was becoming overwealmed by the stimulation of all of the noise around him. As he would stand there, eagerly wondering who to listen to, I would yell above the crowd "Get your man, Bud!". Not greatly inspirational but that is about all I know about basketball...you have to guard your man. Each time I would he would look for the opponent and go to him. He knows my voice and he knows my heart for him. I would never steer him wrong (which is why I'll never yell any other instruction) and he is confident in that.
I got to thinking of that. Feeling good about the relationship I have with Pita and how above all the noise he would trust the voice of his mother, his greatest cheerleader, the Lord asked me the simple question, "Who are you hearing among the crowd?"
As I desire above all else to be a godly example to my children, I had to stop and really consider whose voice it is that I am listening to. I have been blessed with several godly mothers around me who have encouraged me with stories of their experiences. I have read many more books, listened to miriads of speakers, and heard convicting sermons. It's all good noise. Noise that urges me closer to my Father...but am I listening to my Father? God doesn't push and add to the noise in the crowd. He does not yell or demand our attention. He sits among the crowds, our teams, our coaches, as our greatest cheerleader and in a still small voice tells us what we need to hear.
If Pita did not focus on the one voice he had confidence in, his head would swim in the sea of noise and he would aimlessly run through the traffic on the course. If I don't focus on the one, still small voice, of the One I have confidence in, where will I be?
Help me Lord, to seek to hear Your still small voice amongst the noise in my world.
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me". John 10:27
