Our world is a noisy place. As I write this, I’m sitting in a coffee shop where there is a meeting between three gentlemen, a busy strip mall next door, and commerce that is happening all around me. On top of all that, I’m listening to music as I type this. Our world has become an increasingly noisy place where there are many things shouting to grab our attention (even other Christians!). Between the headlines on news networks, viral Twitter posts, and constant exposure to our friends and family on Facebook, we are being doused with noise and information. Welcome to the world that we have created and now live in.
This loud world creates problems for those of us who are trying to hear the voice of God, because our ears and minds are being overloaded by the clutter of our lives that we have to sift through on a day-to-day basis. The big problem is, after sifting through all of these voices, we have no energy left to hear the most important voice: God’s. The racket of our world is attempting to deafen and distract us from hearing from the loquacious God.
With all this, I’m reminded of Samuel from Scripture. Samuel was a young child when he heard God calling out to him. When Samuel heard God “the word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread” (1 Sam 3:1). Often, I feel that the same is true for us, even though God is still speaking to us. In our world, we are captivated by other visions for ourselves and captured by the words of superficial advice rather than God’s purpose for our lives.
Scripture shows us a God who loves and speaks to us while desiring a relationship with us. Yet, even though God is faithful and calls out to us, we continue to wander away and ignore His word for our lives. But still God hasn’t run out of words. In fact, God has a very powerful word for us right now: “See, I am doing a new thing… I am making a way in the wilderness and stream in the wasteland” (Is. 43:19). God speaks into our world so that we can know Him, serve Him, and spread the good news of Jesus Christ.
We have to slow down and block out the noise of our world. We have to set apart time so that God and His Spirit may speak to us through Scripture. If we continue to listen to other voices that are opposed to God’s will, we will find ourselves dying of thirst. Whether these false words are innovative ideologies, political dogma, or Christian elitism, we must discern God’s will for us. My hope is that we can slow down, read Scripture, and listen for God. And we must slow down to read Scripture well instead of reading it like another text, tweet, or email. When we slow down and listen for God through Scripture, we, like Samuel, can hear God calling to us and respond, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
RE: Orthodoxy 