The Noise of Life

We thought about the speed of life yesterday; today it’s about the noise of life.

Maybe your home situation is similar to mine, with young children still running around, but maybe it’s not. Perhaps you’ve just been out to the potting shed, you’ve got a tea and a custard cream in your hand, and you’re sitting with your feet up. If that’s you, enjoy! You have probably earned it, and you know the chaos of which I speak.

I am part of a busy home. There are five of us with multiple devices on all the time—tv on volume 86, music on, videos being streamed to phones, dog howling at shadows, various choke points in the house where we all get stuck trying to move or get around. It’s glorious mayhem–and it’s noisy.

I am never home alone. There is always someone and something going on, and if you are listening and have teenage kids at home, the chances are you have an evening job like mine as a taxi driver every night.

Now here’s the interesting bit—the Psalm I picked for this day is: "He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters." Psalm 23:2

I don’t tend to stop much. I struggle with it, but God finds a way to make me stop and to make me spiritually lie down and rest. I'm driving to my next "dad taxi" drop off, and I’m listening to an audio version of the Bible, and "bam" God has given me a moment or picture from the Bible, like sending a life raft to a drowning man. I didn’t know I needed it, but there it is, and I feel it melting and undoing chaos I didn’t really know I had churning in me.

Or, I have been listening to worship music, not connecting to the words or to God because my mind and heart is charging to the next thing, and suddenly, I feel a deep worship in my heart lifting me up. Tears are running down my face, expressing my gratitude to Jesus.

These are places of rest; he makes me rest there. That’s his doing. But it is teaching me about how God uses this Psalm to call deeply to the human heart.

He leads us besides quiet waters, like a pocket of air at the surface. Maybe as you are pushing up to find it… Sometimes, you’re not even looking for that air pocket, and he takes you to it. You didn’t know the way, or the need you had, but he does. Knowing this rest, this intimacy with Jesus is so important; it will fuel your life personally and intimately with Jesus, and it will overflow outward as you look to share the gospel with your mates.

Devotional Prayer

Jesus, I have been tuned into to the static and noise of my life for so long, it's like my ears are ringing and I cant hear or sense your presence and voice. I want it clear; I want to reconnect my life to you. I want to be the man you are shaping, needing, and equipping me to be. I know that this is only one with you; fade out the noise Jesus and help me hear you.