Hearing the Call

It was a few posts back that I focused on listening.  Do we really listen or just hear noise?  A recent teaching from Shane Hipps of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan stirred up these thoughts again as he talked about hearing our calling of who we were meant to be amongst the white noise of the world.  He likened it to listening to music while driving with the car windows down and how hard it was to hear the music.  No matter how much he turned up the music, it still didn't come through with all of the white noise from the road and the wind.  Finally, he rolled up the windows, shutting out the distracting outside noise and could now truly hear the music.

In order to hear the true calling of what we were meant to be requires that we cut out the white noise of the world and especially those voices in our head that keep distracting us.  God's voice is like a pool of water, that in its most natural state is totally still.  It is only outside forces like the wind or a pebble that disturbs the surface or muddies the water.   If I want to see the image that God has planned for me in the surface of the pool, I must learn to be quiet and still.  My meditation practices allow me to be better at finding that image, but it is often illusive.  Even the slightest disturbance causes it to vanish, like a skittish bird flitting swiftly away.

Shane's teaching also focused on why we need to hear God's voice.  It is not that we need to hear it to be obedient to God or that God really needs us to do anything, but that it is to find that Spirit that truly makes us happy. So often, we do things that we think we should because of the outside forces of the world.  Those things that we were told were the right thing to do.  He likened it to a guitar, which makes a perfect bat for wiffle balls.  Easy to swing, broad surface for contact and the guitar really doesn't care that it is being used to bat a wiffle ball. However, when someone uses the guitar for what it was truly made; sweet and beautiful music can be made. 

That is the result of finally hearing our calling.  Sweet music is made and the noise of the world can't drown it out.

How do we know?  Listen for the music!