While walking around a local amusement park the other day, I noticed all the stimuli trying to grab the attention of everyone that walked through the park. From music to signs to people talking to onlookers via public address systems to cartoon characters, there was a plurality of voices vying for the attention of park visitors.
Life in modern America is filled with marketing messages. We are constantly bombarded with messages. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad. Some of them are simply more clutter or empty promises. All of this can get confusing and can deaden our ability to hear God.
God can become just another voice amidst the crowd. We have to purposefully silence all the other voices and focus on God if we want to clearly hear what the Lord is saying. But this can be hard because Satan doesn't want us to hear the Good Shepherd. Marketers don't want to be ignored. Even our friends and family can insist on getting our attention.
God will on occasions speak through a megaphone or even a donkey to reach the hard-hearted person. But many times He refuses to do anything that will make His voice sound louder than the others in our lives. God wants us to choose to listen. He doesn't want to simply be the loudest voice in the crowd.
I am discovering that we can encounter God most sometimes through silence. This can be kind of disturbing, especially when you become used to so much noise.
