Noise, it's all around us and some days it seems to be louder than others. No matter how hard I try to escape the noise, it seems to come at me from every direction. Some days it's overwhelming and today has been one of those days.

As I was thinking about noise, I remembered when I used to work in the counseling office of a large metro Atlanta church. We were always very concerned with protecting the privacy of our clients and so we kept an ambient noise generator running constantly.  If it became too quiet in the office, the voices of our clients could be easily distinguished and clearly understood. So we used the noise generator to cover the voices. But the noise generator didn't actually mask the conversations, it just tricked the ear so that what was being said couldn't really be focused upon or distinguished.

The more I thought about it, the more interesting it became to me. One kind of noise to cover the sound of another.  It's no wonder in this noise filled world that I have trouble at times hearing that still, small voice of the Lord. It's no wonder that I have to really strain to hear what He's trying to say to me. The constancy of sound–little noises, soft inward, ambient thoughts and fears and attitudes–tricks the ears of my inner man and masks His still, small voice.

In the Bible, God tells us "be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10 As the noise of the day drones on and on, I have to purposely listen for God's gentle voice amid all the confusion and the distractions of daily life. When I hush my mind and listen with my heart, I can distinctly hear His voice above all the chaos of the day. I don't want to miss anything that He wants to say to me. So instead of having an ambient noise generator in my home to drown out all those voices that demand my attention and all the stresses of the day; I choose to put spiritual fingers in my ears and listen with my heart to the one who loves me the most. His voice is the one I want to hear above all others always.