Noise

Elijah, the prophet, was told, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Kgs 19:11-13).

A powerful wind, a rumbling earthquake an a consuming fire - each announcing itself with great noise but the Lord was not in them.  If the prophet had been a Texan, he would have said, "They were all hat and no cowboy!"  They all had the appearance of greatness but they did not signal the presence of the Lord.

Instead, a gentle whisper or a still small voice, coming with no grandeur, was filled with His presence.  It was not the big noise that came in announcing itself loudly, impossible to ignore, but in the small clear whisper that could have easily been missed had Elijah not been listening closely for the Lord's call.

Elijah was seeking clarity, he wanted to know it was God who was speaking to him not just more noise.  Similarly, we live in a world where there is a lot of know, blustering around us all the time, shouting its importance but lacking any real substance and certainly not the voice of God.  Salesmen and telemarketer crowd our email and tie up our phones.  Advertisers fill the airwaves of our televisions.  Bosses and co-workers fill up our in-boxes.  Everywhere we turn, there is a constant amount of noise vying for our attention.

But is it all worthy of our attention, is it anywhere near as important as it comes off being urgent?  Sure the computerized phone message announces excitedly, "You have won a cruise!"  And then, hook being set, the sale to reel you in begins.  Your Facebook is booked solid with one message after another but how many are really worth your time to read?  With all this noise, how often is there any there, there?  Noise is coming at you from all directions, but where is the voice of God?

We need clarity, we need to sort all the noises out, we need some quiet in order to contemplate.  We need to find a time and place where no one is pressing for our attention, where cell phones are not allowed, where email is unanswered, where advertisement are given no room, where we can finally hear the "gentle whisper of God."  We need a quiet time with Bible at hand as we begin a prayerful dialogue with God, listening to his gentle whisper.  Jus' Say'n.