As we know life doesn’t come with a mute button! Therefore a healthy soul is reliant upon discerning and dealing with noise in your life. Noise can be the various sounds, and the many voices that surround us – TV advertisements; the neighbours barking dog; the ringing mobile phone; the power tools from the worksite across the road; the questions and requests of the kids (or other people’s kids!); or the ‘duff-duff’ of a passing car’s sound system! Noise hijacks your mind, disrupting thought and meditation. Most of the time you strive to hear yourself think, and there’s a lot of truth to the thought, silence is the secret to sanity - as it is also the key to clarity, strength and a healthy soul.
Noise is a marketing term; it refers to anything that gets in the way of a recipient receiving the entire message that a company is trying to convey. This is not only true in the marketplace but in our relationship with God. God desires to speak to us, through the Holy Spirit and His Word, and noise in our life has a way of interfering, or interrupting the important things that God has to say to us.
Jesus sought uninterrupted time and space from His daily ministry agenda. Mark 1:35 says, very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus withdrew to a solitary place to be alone with God and pray. It’s been said that when all the noise is gone, there is only God. Like Jesus, we all need a good discipline of ‘quiet time’ in our life - preferably daily. You can conclude that Jesus understood that noise in His life had an impact on His soul, and the ability to hear His Father. According to Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, this time and space was where He humbly realigned His will with God’s.
No matter what you do in life, you may relate in some way to the noise in Jesus’ life. Consider for a moment; the questions and concerns of disciples- students in leadership and ministry development; the criticisms and complaints of the religious leaders; the many diverse needs and demands of the multitudes requiring help and healing; the cynical commentary of the governing authorities; His adversary the devil not to mention the voice of His family and His own thoughts and emotions. Jesus demonstrates the importance of prayer and meditation, taking some time to escape the hustle and bustle, eliminating the noise that life and activity naturally emanates to maintain a healthy soul.
As I read this I reflected on Elijah and God's whisper - the noise of gale force winds, earthquakes and fire would have been overwhelming. Yet it was the whisper that was most powerful. Like our quiet times in the Word and prayer - that is the most powerful time to set the foundations for the day. Great post.
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