Thursday, July 19, 2012

Help! Turn off the music!

When I listen to the current noise that is called music, I find very little of pleasure to the senses, only a tremendous irritation as I'm put on hold to listen to rap music, or sitting in a doctor's office with a very ill relative and forced to listen to loud pop music, or trying to concentrate while grocery shopping for a very diabetic friend.

What really got me on this rampage was a trip to the emergency room with a very sick relative, and both televisions were on, with different programs on each! What is there in our psyches anymore that we can't stand some silence, even with the very ill? I actually had the unmitigated gall one day to ask a receptionist to please, please turn down the very loud "music" while waiting to see a doctor, and I was told it needed to be that loud because the folks behind the desk needed privacy! Huh? Too bad about the sick folks out there!

God's Word assures us that quietness is our strength (what a blessed promise to those of us now searching in vain for a silent corner in this earth):
Job 34:29 KJV: "When He giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?"
Is 30:15: "This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: `In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength...'"
Is.32:16-18 TLB: "Then justice will rule through all the land, and out of justice, peace. Quietness and confidence will reign forever more. My people will live in safety, quietly at home."
Jer.50:34 TLB: "But their Redeemer is strong. His name is the Lord of Hosts. He will plead for them and see that they are freed to live again in quietness in Israel."

I love this little story:
"Why are you all so quiet all the time?" I say, still whispering at him in this hoarse voice.
"We are teachers and workers," he says, "not talkers."
"Workers, O.K.," I say, "but how can a teacher be quiet all the time and teach anybody anything?"
"Christ was the best," he says, thinking of something. "He lived thirty-three years. Thirty years he kept quiet; three years he talked. Ten to one for keeping quiet." (Franc Smith, Harry Vernon at Prep)

It doesn’t hurt to shut down all the paraphernalia and allow God’s serenity to enter into the recesses of our mind and heart. I do believe this is the peace He promises us: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:27). The Living Bible gives us this translation: "I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind and heart!" Indeed, it is a wondrous gift, but we must be quiet to receive it!

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