Episode #287 How to Hear God When Life Is Loud – Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Hey friends, the world is loud and it doesn't stop for quiet time. I know I don't have to tell you this. You experience the loudness of seasons and life and family and work, and even the loudness that happens in our own brains. But what if you could hear God in the middle of the noise? There are so many things clamoring for our attention.

I'm rereading Richard Foster's book, Celebration of Discipline. And he talks about this in the discipline of solitude. I'll read a little bit from his book. He says, "A day filled with noise and voices can be a day of silence, if the noises become for us the echo of the presence of God. if the voices are, for us, messages and solicitations of God. When we speak of ourselves and are filled with ourselves, we leave silence behind. When we repeat the intimate words of God that he has left within us, our silence remains intact."

So Foster's talking about an inward stillness. We're able to practice a reorienting inner quiet where we focus on what God has said and how he is there with us. To receive the noise, the circumstances, the distractions or the decisions, as messages and invitations from God to engage with him. To notice him on display and to respond to him.

And one of the ways that this is hard for me is I buy into the noise. I add to the noise with my own internal spiraling thoughts, me trying to figure things out. Sometimes it's not always negative, but it's me trying to problem solve and get in and jump into the mess and see what needs to happen in a way that is reactionary.

Foster says, "One reason we can hardly bear to remain silent is that it makes us feel so helpless. We are so accustomed to relying upon words to manage and control others. If we are silent, who will take control? God will take control, but we will never let him take control until we trust him. Silence is intimately related to trust."

I can see that in my own life. When I think about my own internal inner workings and also in the way that I engage with my words, with my thoughts, with my perspective, with my problem solving, with my worries, and my own chaos. I can feel more powerful and less helpless if I'm engaging in the noise trying to exert what I think is good to have happen.

But this discipline is an exercise of trust. Releasing control to God.

I'm gonna read for us some of Isaiah 30. And in this passage of scripture, God's people, the Israelites, are not trusting him. They're taking matters into their own hands.

It begins in Isaiah 30:1, “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the LORD, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit.” And he goes on to describe circumstances where his people have taken matters into their own hands and are not responding to him.

In Isaiah 30, verse 15, he says, “For this, says the Lord God, the holy one of Israel, in returning and rest, you shall be saved in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

He goes on to describe ways that they were unwilling. No, we're taking matters into our own hands. We have this solved. We have horses. We can get away from those who pursue us.

And he's like, it's not gonna work. But in verse 18, he says, “Therefore the Lord waits. To be gracious to you, and therefore, he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him.”

I started thinking about some of the practical ways that this can happen because we can often confuse stillness with in-activity. But true spiritual quiet is full of attention, not absence. We're seeking God, we're resting in him. We're trusting to receive what he would share with us. Even when the outside noise can't be turned down.

Think about your kids. Think about your inbox. Think about your to-do list. Your spirit can settle into the quietness of God's presence. I see this in really simple ways in parenting, when my kid needs a moment of ministry, of my heart connecting with theirs, and I'm asking God to show me what to do. I see this in calendaring, asking God to help me plan my days and fill my calendar in alignment with the priorities that he has given me. I see this in doing before I rush ahead to just make a plan and figure things out on my own, responding to God's invitation to partner with him in the things that he has entrusted to me.

Now, those are some simple applications for me that I hope are useful to you. And I also know that God has things that he wants to stir in your heart specifically and uniquely about this topic. And so as we do, let's close out this episode with a question that you can now take to him in prayer:

God, you know what's going on in my life. How can I cultivate an inner stillness even when my environment is noisy?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

Connect with Jen on Instagram