The Noise

So, as of late, I have been extremely busy, it's drawing near the end of the semester and being my last one before graduation, things are extra stressful. Also, to top all of that, I am still trying to raise funds for Kenya and make proper preparations for the trip and to stay on top of all the forms that keep coming like every other day. On top of that, I am trying to figure out exactly where the Lord is leading me this summer in terms of work, ministry, where He wants me to worship, etc.. So, although I know many people have much more to worry about, my days have been pretty hectic lately. Now, please excuse the complaining and set aside my excuses, I merely stated them to set up what God revealed to me this weekend.

A few of us went to Deep Ellum in Dallas on Saturday on a mission to pass out sack lunches to the homeless in the city. It was something that had been laid upon quite a few of us in our college group, so we decided that we should start acting on it, instead of continuing to say, "yeah! we should def do something like that" and then totally forgetting about it until the next time we all got together. So, we made plans to go on saturday, and we woke up saturday morning to pouring down rain. We all decided that the rain could not be a hinderance to what God had planned to do. We made lunches during the day and set out. Seven of us treaded out into the downpour with backpacks full of lunches and bibles.. About halfway through, the Lord spoke to me, saying that there was one person in particular that He wanted to do a mighty work in, and that He also had words that He wanted to speak to me through someone that we would find on the streets. Four hours, twenty lunches, eighteen Bibles, and one new brother in Christ later, we packed our soaking wet bodies back into the cars and set out for home with nine lunches left. Driving down probably the nicest part of downtown, we looked and saw a group of people standing under an awning, and to our surprise there happened to be nine people standing there. We pulled into a no parking zone, jumped out and ran over to the group, and began to pour out God's love on them.. To my surprise, the man that I walked up to, was not homeless, and was not hungry. He did accept my offer to pray over him, and he even asked if he could pray over me. After we finished praying together, he looked up at me and said, "listen, do you hear that?" I said foolishly, uhhh the rain? He laughed and said "my point exactly, it is the noise. The very thing that keeps us from hearing the voice of God.. It is all around us, and it cripples and clogs our hears from hearing from the Lord. We must slow down, take time to wait upon the Lord and listen for the 'still, small voice' (1 Kings 19:12) that is the voice of God." I was in tears as he was speaking because I knew that this is what God wanted to tell me, to stop! To breathe for a moment, take a break from "the noise", and to wait upon Him. 

I was quickened and thought immediately of psalm 46:10, where the Lord says, "Be still, and know that I am God." With all of this stuff going on around me and in my life, there began to develop a space in my heart which needed replenishment, an area that only spending time with the Lord could produce joy and peace. Although I was in the Word, praying, working on ministry stuff, I had forgotten the most important part of it all: to be still. It was like I was saying Lord, come now, don't wait dont hesitate, just come now and teach me, minister to my heart. So, patience was the lesson the Lord had for me, patience in waiting upon the Lord will in turn produce that longing and desire to hear His voice instead of settling for merely reading the Bible.. but truly hearing from God. 

We all have busyness that plagues our days, our weeks, even our months. But God is not interested in our excuses of how busy we are, or how important the things are that we are dealing with.. He is interested in our hearts and in our desire to worship Him in response to His love for us.. It is His purpose for creating us, not to just be in fellowship with Him, but that our joy would be made FULL in Him, therefore birthing a burning desire to know Him intimately and worship Him because of His unbelievable love and how it transforms our hearts. 

Father, slow us down. Lord, take our schedules and meetings and practices, and wrinkle them up and toss them away. Birth in us a desire to wait upon You for hours, to sit in silence marveling at how good You are, how precious Your creation is, how intricate Your love is. Set our hearts to a new direction, leading us to Your heart, where we find You waiting outside the noise, with Your arms open, ready to take us into them and embrace us with powerful joy and peace. Thank You, Father for grace, for running after us, when we wander slowly around like lost sheep.. Your love is extravagant Father, beyond all imagination.