Too Much Noise

How does God speak to you? For me it is in nature or music, or a sudden thought unconnected to what I had been thinking about, or an unexpected vision of a person coming to mind. I’m very much a feelings person.

There is no doubt that God speaks. If I wake with a song going round in my head I have learnt to ask myself “What is God trying to tell me?” at times I have been so struck by something in nature that I have had to stop and thank God for His creation; at times those thanks have been said aloud because there is nothing else I can do at that moment. There have also been times when a particular person suddenly comes to mind and I feel a prodding to pray for them or phone. No, there is no doubt in my mind that God speaks.

During the last six months many people have talked about the wonders of nature and how walking in nature has helped to restore mental health or at least helped them to get through another day. But do these people have knowledge or realisation of creation; that there is a God in heaven who created the very things that are bringing them health and are speaking to them?

Do we accept that God is speaking to us when we have a sudden thought while gazing at flowers or birds or bees, or do we push that away?

“The man whispered, “God speak to me.”
And a skylark sang.
But the man did not hear.

So the man yelled “God speak to me.”
And the thunder rolled across the sky.
But the man did not listen.

The man looked around and said “God show me a miracle!”
And a new life was born.
But the man did not know.

So the man cried in despair, “Touch me God and let me know you are here!”
Whereupon God reached down and touched the man.
But the man brushed the butterfly away
And walked on.”

We live in a noisy world. It was much better during lock-down but now the noise is returning; traffic, an ice cream van with its chimes, a plane going overhead, the washing machine, dish washer, kettle, fridge, TV, car radio as it passes. We listen to the most urgent, persistent or alluring; we choose the voices that appeal to us, or comfort us. We hear the loudest and block out the rest.

God is polite and he won’t charge in where he isn’t invited. He doesn’t shout over the noise of the day but comes to us in a still small voice. We need to learn to listen for Him.

We don’t get to know someone by talking all the time, filling every silence. We don’t learn by talking all the time. We get to know a person by listening to them and we learn by listening.

Next time you hear a skylark, or thunder, or hear of a new life being born, or see a butterfly stop and think – what is God saying to me now?

Jane