4 Ways to Turn Down the Noise
“In a world so wired and interconnected,
Our anxious hearts are pummeled by an endless barrage of troubling news.
We are daily aware of more grief, O Lord,
than we can rightly consider,
of more suffering and scandal
than we can respond to, of more
hostility, hatred, horror and injustice
than we can engage with compassion
But you, O Jesus, are not disquieted
By such news of cruelty and terror and war.
You are either anxious nor overwhelmed.
You carried the full weight of the suffering
of a broken world when you hung upon the cross,
And You carry it still…” (Douglas Kaine Mckelvey , Every Moment Holy Volume 1)
For the past 4 months, almost every single morning, I’ve woken up to news notifications on my phone that have made my heart sink, my blood boil or my head just plain hurt. I’m taking a wild guess and assuming, it’s been the same for you?
A constant flood of news and feeling the need to react to every issue, event and update takes a toll. Our feeds are filling up but by the end of the day, they leave us empty and wondering how much more we can possibly take.
If we aren't careful, nonstop breaking news can break us. All this attempts to shake our faith, steal our peace and ultimately the joy that God gifted us as the source of strength to carry on in the midst of hard and heavy times.
Here’s the truth that gives us hope - if there is a weapon being crafted against your faith, peace and joy, then there MUST be a God-given response to confront and overcome it.
Now, let me preface all this by saying, I’m someone who likes to stay informed and engage with what’s happening from a Biblical perspective. I’m passionate about using my voice to stand up for righteousness and justice. I am no proponent of sticking your head in the sand during hard times and waiting for the clock to strike midnight. With that said, I have to be honest and tell you, I’m tired. I’m learning that there is a real danger in consuming all the information without a plan for righly processing it.
It's noisy out there right now. There are an unlimited amount of directions your attention can go in any given moment. We have to steward the attention of our eyes and affection of our heart constantly.
News. Texts. Podcasts. Social Media. Netflix. Left or right. Pro this and not that.
The temptation is to either over-consume or be paralyzed by it all and simply close off our hearts. We don’t have to do either. Instead, we can learn to hear and discern the sound of God’s voice in the midst of all the noise and respond accordingly.
There’s a slight but key difference between noise and sound:
Sound is what we hear in general, noise is the unwanted or distracting sound. It’s the extra that doesn’t let us pick up on the desired sound. What is noise to one person may be sound to another. It all depends on you, the listener. What are we desiring to hear? God is always speaking, in so many different ways. Whatever we desire to hear will be the sound that we pick up in the midst of all the noise.
We aren’t going to ignore what’s happening but we are called to discern. This reminds me of the sons of Issachar who were described in 1 Cronticales,
From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take. (1 Chronicles 12:32).
They understood the signs and knew what to do, not only for themselves, but for those around them. I believe God wants to reveal solutions and equip us with what we need to carry them out. The world is hurting and we carry the hope for the hour, if only we can stop to listen, understand and act. We can’t serve a hurting world if we don’t hear the sound of God’s voice and we can't hear God’s voice if we’re distracted by all the noise.
We don’t just need to raise our awareness of issues but also increase our understanding of the days we are living in. The only way to do that is by listening for the sound of the voice of God and the leading of His Spirit.
This is not only a spiritual idea but a very practical invitation God is extending. Here are some daily practices I have started to do in order to turn down the noise:
Guard the first and the last - How we start and end our days is key to how we process all that is this happening in this season. Separate your mornings and last moments of the day and spend them in prayer, Word and worship. This isn’t about time frames. It may be 5 mins for you because the kids barge in and the madness begins. The key is to get alone with God before anyone or anything else and end your days in the same posture. I do this by placing my phone away from my bed, so that it’s not the first thing or last thing I instinctively reach for.
Prep your phone - Something I’ve been trying lately is to set my phone at night for what I do or don’t want to wake up to in the morning. I’ve turned off all notifications on my phone, especially news. Now again, I’m not ignoring what’s happening but I am also not giving the 24 hour news cycle or constant social media feed the power to dictate my day. I check into news when I want to, instead of letting notification constantly interrupt my day. I also delete all social media apps at night, so that they aren’t a distraction first thing in the morning.
Filter the voices - I’m all for hearing different voices, but there are some people and sources who bring nothing but contempt and negativity to the conversation. They aren’t wanting to engage in healthy debate but instead, they seek to attack and confuse, so for them we have a wonderful little button called “unfollow”. Some things we hear will be hard simply because we are being faced with it for the first time, that’s okay. Press in. Don’t ignore something just because it’s uncomfortable. What I am saying is, if it isn’t challenging you to grow in love for God, yourself and others, you are free to proceed to unfollow. Now, I know some people we can’t just unfollow virtually. We can’t always stop people from speaking to us, but what we do have control over is who speak into us. Not everyone’s voice and opinion has to have the same access to you. We love everyone yes, but we do not have to give everyone permission to have authority over our lives.
Unplug when needed - Knowing when to unplug in order to connect to the sound of the Word and direction of God will be the key to guarding your faith, peace and joy in this season. Sometimes this means unplugging from social and news for a few hours, maybe days or even weeks? I don’t know what it’ll be for you, but we all need to not only turn down the noise but actually silence it for a bit. We are not meant for nonstop influx of information. We need to make room to listen and discern what God is saying.
I don’t want to react to whatever headline, trend or topic is on today. I want to partner with God out of the preparation of my soul and spirit. I want to pull from my intimacy with the One who already knows all that was, is and is to come. We were created to hear His voice, whether that’s audibly, in the still silence of a moment or in any other creative way He desires, His voice will always align with what He’s already spoken through His Word.
Our ability to respond to this season will be directly tied to our commitment to turn down the noise and listen for the sound of Heaven. We will not stop. We will pray, intercede, fight and use our voices, always led by the sound of the Father who desires to bring Heaven to earth.
Over and over in the Bible, the men and women who partnered with God to change the world did it by listening to the Sound of His voice and following His direction in the midst of persecution, famine, injustice, fire and even war. It’s been done before and now you and I have the opportunity to do the same.
Take a deep breath friend. God knows what to do and He wants to share that with you.
