Problems with hearing God due to a lot of "noise?"

Here is a great quote from Henri Nouwen (1932-1996):

"It is clear that we are usually surrounded by so much outer noise that it is hard to truly hear our God when he is speaking so us. We have often become deaf, unable to know when God calls us and unable to understand in which direction he calls us.

Thus our lives have become absurd. In the word absurd we find the Latin word "surdus," which means "deaf."...When, however, we learn to listen, our lives become obedient lives. The word obedient comes from the Latin word "audire," which means "listening." [Nouwen, Henri J.M. "Making All Things New: An Invitation to the Spiritual Life." San Francisco : Harper & Row, 1981.]

I recently had an experience where I was thankful that I “heard the Lord.” On a recent Saturday morning I started to read through the book of Ecclesiastes. My plan was to read several chapters, pray and then head to my office at the college to do some work. As I was reading, I felt the Lord speak to me to “read until 10:00 a.m.” (It was about 9:40 a.m.) Well, I was really enjoying reading and I didn’t look at the clock to see what time it was. Instead of a few chapters, I felt impressed to “read the whole book.” Well, I love to read God’s Word, so it was a joy.

Well, I prayed for a while and then just sat and “meditated.” When I got up, it was almost 11:00 a.m. My wife had put the vacuum cleaner in the living room (“hint, hint!”). Actually, not! But, I decked to help her before I went to the office. I vacuumed one room and then when I move to another room, I looked out the window and saw a fire truck.

To make a long story short, when I went outside to check on what had happened, I found that my neighbor was about to be taken by ambulance to the emergency room. She was having breathing problems. Her husband wanted to go with her in the ambulance. I said, “I’ll watch the kids.”

So, the 3 kids—one young teen and 2 pre-teens—went into the house and we had a great time together over the next couple of hours. Eventually their mom and dad came home and their mom was fine for which we all thanked the Lord!

I thought: if I have not been obedient to stay at home, I would have missed it. Karen was heading to the store, so she probably would not have been around to help.

Isn’t God good? He had a plan lined out so that the kids would not be left alone in an empty house. I didn’t tell you that the family was just a couple hours from leaving the city due to moving. The rental truck was packed and they were just doing the last cleaning when this happened!

Not only did He have a plan for the children and the mom and dad, but also for me: I had the wonderful privilege of getting to know 3 wonderful young people better than I had in the time they lived next door as neighbors. It was such an inspiration to see how the three of them loved each other and interacted during this “rough time” of not knowing what was happening to their mother!

I have always tried to listen to the Lord and be obedient to Him. I’ll be the first to let you know that I am not batting 1.000 in this area, but I continue to work at it.
This little incident has been a great reminder to be “listening” at all times for the voice of the Lord.

As Nouwen reminded me: “We have often become deaf, unable to know when God calls us and unable to understand in which direction he calls us.”

I want to hear God speaking and then obey. Someone may be depending on my obedience.