Table of Contents
Volume 41, Number 4
July - August 2010

Listening to the Lord
Pastor Terry and Kathy Green

Listening to the Lord

It didn’t take our kids long to figure us out! If they wanted to play with something messy, like paints or the trunk full of dress up clothes, they asked Dad, because Mom couldn’t tolerate a messy house. But if they wanted to be noisy, banging pots and pans in a marching band or playing a game with a repetitive electronic beep, they asked Mom, because Dad couldn’t stand the noise. It’s no wonder that Terry longed for an occasional moment of peace. As Luke would say, “there was no small stir” in our 1,500 sq. foot home with 5 kids, each of whom practiced at least two musical instruments, loved to sing, and called out from room to room if they wanted each other instead of getting up and going to find the sibling personally.

There’s not much quiet in our society either. In the grocery store, at the mall, at a sporting event, even at formal school functions, there’s usually some sort of recorded music playing, usually with a well-defined beat and at a painful volume level. Most folks in the crowd don’t even seem to notice it anymore. Perhaps they don’t notice because their homes are also never quiet. Kids walk around leashed to their iPods or MP3s; televisions are blaring in American homes for an average of 7 hours per night; 80 percent of children under age ten have televisions in their bedrooms. Cell phones ring everywhere now, including in church services. The internet, computer games and video games add to the cacophony.  Our technological society is inured to constant entertainment and incessant noise.

The Bible presents a different picture. Moses saw God when he was shepherding in the desolate wilderness (Exodus 3); in a time when word from the Lord was precious and scarce, Samuel heard the voice of the Lord in the quiet evening, when he was lying down to sleep (I Samuel 3); David longed to lie down in green pastures by still waters (Psalm 23); the Psalmist wrote, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Much of Scripture tells us to stop and think about God, to meditate on His Person and His promises, to use our minds to think on things that are of lovely and good repute (Philippians 4:8). If we are constantly bombarded by noise, if we are distracted by continuous information and sound, how can we be focusing our thoughts on God? If you are feeling distant from God, perhaps it’s because you are not being still enough.

Psalm 4:4 says to “stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.” The implication of this verse is that when we are focusing on God’s sovereign omnipotence, when we spend tranquil time thinking of His greatness and our weakness, we will refrain from sin. A similar concept is presented in the New Testament in Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians, when he writes that they “study to be quiet” (I Thessalonians 4:11) and “with quietness they work” (II Thessalonians 3:12) so that they may have a good testimony. Are you teaching your children (and yourself) to be quiet before God?

How do we teach our kids to be quiet? Step one: turn off the television and the stereo. Even godly Christian music can distract the brain from focusing on the Lord, so deliberately plan for regular times when there are no outside sounds in your home. Step two: turn off the electronic devices. Encourage your children to discover the world of books and table games and conversation. Step three: build into your schedule time for your children to be alone. Do not constantly provide entertainment and projects and plans for them. Send them outside into the backyard to play; schedule alone time in the bedroom when they must amuse themselves without outside help. Kids actually can become dependent on someone else to do their thinking; older siblings often tell younger kids what they must imagine and what they must do next − it is good for a child to learn to play alone and entertain himself or herself occasionally. Don’t let them argue their way out of it by telling you that “it’s boring.” Children must learn to be alone, self-disciplined, and self-motivated in their everyday activities. Step four: get outside and enjoy God’s created world, and when you do so, do not take your noisiness with you. There is relaxation in the sound of a rippling brook, in an ocean wave crashing onto the beach, in a bird calling out in song, in the wind rustling the trees. Your thoughts will be calmed, and inevitably, your thoughts will turn to the Master Designer. Step five: introduce the spiritual aspect of stillness by teaching your children to have their own personal quiet time with the Lord on a daily basis. This quiet time should include reading God’s Word, perhaps softly singing a song of worship, praying, and quietly listening too. Teach your kids to spend a few moments every day just thinking about God and trying to hear the still small voice of God (I Kings 19:12) telling them what He wants them to do. We all desire that our adult children will follow God for all their lives; learning to recognize the Holy Spirit’s voice is an essential step in this development.   I Thessalonians 5:19 warns us not to quench the Spirit; it’s easy to drown His voice out with the sheer noisy busyness of our lives.

The rewards of developing this discipline of quietness are immeasurable. Besides strengthening our fellowship with the Lord, quietness also give us clarity of thought and calmness of spirit. We’ll lose our tempers less often; we’ll better control our tongues; our emotions will be less volatile. Peace, calmness, and stillness will invade our harried lives. As Isaiah 30:15 says, “For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:  In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength; and ye would not.” Will you?