Living in noise

 

Luke 9:18

One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone…..

Jesus walked in complete union with God, in complete obedience to what Abba had sent Him to do. In fact, He Himself said that He did not do anything that His Father had not shown Him to do. In our human way of thinking, we would assume that Jesus therefore did not need extra time with Abba, after all, He was constantly in touch with Him, was He not?

And yet He often secluded Himself to pray to His Father - alone, away from the clamouring crowds that were constantly demanding His attention, away from His disciples and family. In doing so, He set us an example that is a key element in hearing God’s voice, something Elijah physically experienced when he was hiding in the cleft in the mountain Horeb. He did not hear God’s voice in a mighty wind, earthquake, or fire, no, 1 Kings 19:12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. That great prophet instantly recognised the soft gentle voice of his God in the quietness surrounding him.

When we shut off the noise flooding our lives and quiet our souls before God, He can deal with the emotional anxieties, stresses and fears that then start arising within us during those moments. He has a way of showing us who we really are, the real inner being that we so often try to hide from the world, because we cannot hide anything from God in those intimate times with Him. The distractions in our lives successfully keep us so busy and engaged that we rarely find ourselves in the position described above. This means we are missing out, big time! Because as we increase these quiet times with God, it has an interesting effect:  our hearts become softer towards God and our desire for more of Him increases. We build up a strong inner core of trust and faith, and all of this comes not by doing something, but by being with Someone!

What is keeping us from spending quiet alone time with God? It could be that we are afraid of what will be exposed about us during those times, inner hurts that we cannot face maybe, or attitudes that we are very reluctant to change because that would mean changing our identity and way of living up to now. Another hindrance in our modern times would definitely be our addiction to constant media stimulation. And yes, it is an addiction, creating in our brains the same effects that taking cocaine has. We mistakenly equate solitude with loneliness, but meeting with God means that we have a Companion alongside us, we must believe this even though we do not see Him. We could also be reluctant to spend time with Him because we are afraid that God will not say anything – but that should not hinder us, because the point is to spend time with Him, not expecting anything, but just sitting in His presence.

Pearls to ponder:

How do I get started? Choose a time for your meeting, set your alarm if need be. Start small, one to two minutes maybe where you really focus on God Himself, not on a list of favours to ask Him. You can increase this time as you go on. Be consistent, try not to miss a single day of doing this. It helps if you choose a special place to meet Him, any place where you can be uninterrupted for a while. Invite Him there, remember Eli told Samuel to say: Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening? Just say something simple like: Here I am, Lord! And then quiet your soul, aim for silence, do not play worship music or speak. Just let your own thoughts pass by without giving them attention (e.g. your list of things to do that day!). And focus on Abba, Jesus, Holy Spirit, just stand in awe of Him, in reverence and thankfulness. This is different from the worldly way of meditating, you are not emptying your mind, you are intentionally focussing on Him. Keep doing this and see how God works in your life!

Still, be still my soul