I have 3 amazing kids. One of the things I notice at my house is the absence of noise when they are at school. I can hear every electrical sound. I can hear the sump pump kick on and off. I can hear the washer and dryer cycling and a wide variety of other noises that I never hear when my kids are home. There is a lot of noise at my house. Most of it is fantastic. Kids playing together and other noises that make me know my family is healthy and happy.
As I stood outside today, I noticed exactly how noisy it was outside. Sounds that many times I just stop paying attention to and accept as normal. Then, I went to go vote at our county auditors office. What I saw and heard made me know even more that the world is even more noisy. I saw 6 employees on their phones frantically texting and saw others in the office on phones and tablets as well. It really hit me then because my phone dinged and I immediately reached to check who was texting me. That text was followed by a Facebook notification dot that appeared on my Facebook icon. Then, my mail app refreshed and suddenly I had 9 email messages from different people. My life is noisy. Everyone of us could attest to that fact.
Our busyness and our need to be continually in the loop has caused something to happen in our spiritual lives as well. We are placing our same expectations of instant information from God. We are looking to God the way we look at our phones. We want that text tone followed by a cleverly worded message. We want God to answer our Facebook status or our tweets and then we become disappointed in him because he is not answering us as fast as we think he should.
There is a scripture Psalms the 46th chapter and 10th verse that says Be still and know that I am God.... When was the last time we actually took the time to do this? To quiet ourselves and put away the phones and the iPads and just be still and understand that God does not need our help to run the universe and he will do just fine without us for 5 minutes.
I was asked the other day why do I think that we do not see the miracles of the past occurring in church today. My response was this. We have forgotten the art of tarrying. We are so quick to stop and just accept no answer as the answer. God has called us to be vigilant in prayer and wait on him. Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. We have to get to the point of being still and knowing that he is God. We cannot understand him or his ways unless we ourselves are connecting with him. God is not superficial so he does not honor superficial things. He cannot take on things that are not his nature. We have to learn to be still again. So the question is how.
1. Force the issue: You have to be intentional about getting still. Set the time and keep to it. Leave your phone somewhere you cannot hear it or see it. Don't keep it with you and say I will turn it on silent. You know you will put it on vibrate and if your phone is like mine vibrate is louder than most of my ringtones.
2.Get accountable: Many times we do not even know how much we are under the mastery of our technology. We find ourselves sleeping with our phones. If it dings, we have anxiety until we see what it is. We need someone to ask us the hard questions. Then, they can work with us to develop a strategy for victory.
3. Use it as a tool for becoming more like HIM: In becoming more like him, I am not saying turn into super stalker and know everything about everybody. Use your phone to honor God. Read the scriptures instead of playing Candy Crush or Pearls Peril. Use it to send words of affirmation when REAL interaction is not possible for whatever circumstances. Master your technology do not let it master you.
I realize it may sound simple, but while you were reading this post, you got distracted by the banner at the top that flashed you had a Facebook or text notification. When was the last time you spent 5 minutes quiet before God without your tech? Set that time everyday. 5 minutes just being still. God will justify the time. Let him work and watch what he will do. He wants to reveal himself. The best things in life are worth waiting for. How would your cake be if you just kept opening up the door to the oven every 1 minute. It might eventually get done but it more than likely would look done but be raw and unfit to eat. We need to spend the time, see it as an investment, and reap the benefits of a true relationship with God.
