Shhhhhh!

Job 33:33
....then listen to me, be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.

Have you noticed how much noise there is in our society?
Have you noticed how much noise there is all around us?
Have you noticed how much noise there is in the church?
An avalanche of words....
rolling downhill with great emotion.
Somehow we think that if whatever we say is backed by emotion, then it will be more effective. Or it will have a greater impact on those we are talking to.
Sometimes we allow our emotion to color what would be truth. We say things out of turn, thinking we are following the Spirit of God.
In fact, sometimes emotion is seen as being more important than truth. If I make my statements with great passion and with fire, then that must be God backing me. 

I am learning how to be silent. Not an easy task for me. Sometimes when I teach, I am driven by this thought that "I have to convince people to believe what I am teaching."  But Scripture says that God empowers the words and it is the Holy Spirit that delivers them to the hearts of those who are listening. God is the mastermind in this whole speaking-hearing-responding event. I am merely the vessel of delivery. Kind of inflated my place in the scheme of things, didn't I? Well, like I said, I think this is the year to listen.

Listen and study His word.
Listen and learn to discern what I hear.
I had a lesson in this last night. I was listening to a podcast of a very respected pastor, when he quoted I Corinthians 2:9 - No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.
He was using this verse to back up the idea of following God is a major effort because of the unknown. That even in Scripture our finite minds cannot comprehend God as we read about Him. As quick as this pastor started quoting the I Corinthians passage, I said to myself, "Carry it on out...don't stop with verse 9...go to 10. Why? Because Verse 10 is the answer to the statement this pastor was making. Verse 10 reads: But God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. I really have to watch myself when I am preparing a message to be taught. If I don't study a whole passage, I'll give half-truths and false views simply because of my laziness. This coming year, for me, will be a time to hear God better than I have in the past. To discern what I am hearing and then act on it.

A year to not let my opinion be seen as being God's truth. To listen more. Reject the false I am hearing and embrace the truth.
To listen more and learn how to sit in quietness and wait for God to speak.
I think silence is to be my friend this year.
I don't have to fill up every minute of every day with sound.
Embrace the silence and learn how to quiet myself inside.

I think this may be a good year.
God on you.....
mb