Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

When God Cannot Be Heard Above the Noise

By Dr. Richard P. Bucher

We are living in a very noisy world. This is not totally new. From the beginning, wherever people have gathered to form a community, whether temporary (a party or get-together) or permanently (a town or city), the noise of human activity and discourse has increased accordingly. Noise that is both aural and visual.

What is relatively new, is the prevalence of the noise. Thanks to the same technologies that have benefited us in countless ways, the noise has increased exponentially both in sphere and intensity. Noise is practically everywhere and it is geting noisier. It's not just the sound. The noise I'm talking about is digital and analog, aural and visual. It surrounds us through radio and television, cd-player and computer. A billion voices and images, words and ideas, demand to be heard and vie for our attention. At our work or school, of course, the noise is inescapable. The noise of conversation, phones ringing, keyboards clicking, machines machining, or children being children is all encompassing.

More startling still is that, even when we don't have to have it, we choose this noise from morning to night. We choose noise because for some odd reason we feel naked and alone without it. We rise or lie down to the sound of clock radio, radio, or TV. No sooner have we pulled out of our driveways, that we reach for the radio or cd player. We exercise with noise (we say that it motivates us), work with noise, and play with noise. Some even leave the radio, TV, or computer on all day.

The problem with noise is the damage that it does to our spiritual life. Noise is clutter. Noise distracts. Noise confuses. When distracting clutter surrounds us and fills our minds it is difficult to think meaningful thoughts, let alone to hear God, pray to Him, or meditate on His Word. It is not by accident that Jesus often went off to a quiet and isolated location to pray (Matthew 14:23; Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; 6:12) . He knew that His Father was the One who reveals Himself in a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:12); the One who said, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10; Zechariah 2:13; Exodus 14:14; Psalm 37:7; Ecclesiastes 3:7; Habakkuk 2:20; Zephaniah 1:7). Choose quiet. Hear God.

February 1999