The title is something I don't usually tell myself. In fact, I get distracted by so many things. I'm the type of person who loves to have fellowship. As a result, I don't usually have quiet time which is something I probably need.
In our culture, there is a lot of noise that goes on in the background even if we don't pay enough attention to care. People listen to music with ear buds or they are blasting it through speakers, phones ring, a lot of chit chat going on, and the noise technology makes in general. It's hard to find silence in our society.
Psalm 46:10 says "Be still and know that I am God". If you know me well enough, you know that I tend to rush. That would be the opposite of being still.
I remember being challenged to find some quiet time and try to listen for God. Have I actually gotten to that? No. As stated earlier, I tend get distracted. I probably distract myself more than anything. The last time I tried to have quiet time was when I went to IHOP East Bay a couple weeks ago (Note: House of Prayer, not House of Pancakes). They put up audio from the service going on in IHOP Kansas City at the time and I think I was one of two people in the room. I failed because I ended up falling asleep on one of the benches.
I find it harder to force myself into quiet time at home as well. I have plenty of time to do it, but I usually end up on facebook chat, youtube, playing games, listening to music, and running errands. All of those except the last one should not stop me from getting quiet time, but I distract myself with those anyways. While these outside influence can be distracting, I find my inner thoughts even more distracting sometimes. When I have plenty of time to meditate on God and seek Him, I end up thinking about life or entertainment. For example, lately I've been thinking a lot about an episode of Pokemon that's supposed to come out this week. While I know Ash is probably going to lose to the trainer with a legendary Pokemon in the semi-finals, I tend to speculate about the results of it. That leads me to read a whole bunch of discussions for it online. There are other shows I think about as well, but in the end I know they aren't helping with me trying to find quiet time.
Tonight during worship night, I learned that fellowship can also be distracting. It was right after the worship ended and I was talking to Ryan Frank and his friends. I told them about how I'm trying to cram a lot of meetings before summer ends. I like to meet up with people to see how they are doing with the Lord, and it's great to hear testimonies as well. After I mention that I was trying to meet lots of people, the group starts telling me that while fellowship can be a good thing, too much fellowship is bad. It means I rely too much on people and not enough on God. It would eventually lead me down to a not so great place. Hearing that, I thought about how I distract myself with people as well. I also notice how when I was in Santa Barbara I tended to surround myself with people that I didn't really get much quiet time. It was then that I decided to write on this topic.
I need to get myself to have quiet time to be still and listen for God. While I feel it will be much harder once I go back to Santa Barbara, I definitely need encouragement to find quiet time there too. It's always nice to have fellowship, but too much can be bad. I guess too much of anything can be bad.
Right now, I feel like the easiest way to get some quiet time would be to go somewhere without much technology and start praying. Camping on my own or with only a few people would fit in that description. A good place to go to in the middle of nowhere would be Twaine Hart. It would be nice to go back to the cabin and meditate in His word. It would also be a good place to find a spot and just start worshiping and praying on my own. It might be safer to bring a few people along as well, but it might be counterproductive to do this with lots of people. Obviously I don't know if I can pay to stay at the cabin in Twaine Hart on my own. I don't even know if I have time to do that. I guess anywhere that is in the middle of nowhere could work. It's not necessary, but I find it much easier when I can isolate myself. It worked up in Redding.
Well, I guess I am done with this post. I'm surprised that I'm even updating.
Until next time,
Kenneth
kenneth, i feel like even though you weren't planning on posting that this was very well-though out and i really enjoyed it. i think that we are never really taught the value of silence because we instead feel that we must always be entertained and that's a shame.
ReplyDeletei also feel the need to really meditate and spend time in God's Word. i think it's something i really enjoy and find pretty enlightening but sometimes i just can't bring myself to do it. it's totally the flesh and i know how important it is to fight it, but it's hard. your thoughts on this subject are super encouraging and i'm very glad you wrote.
i'm very glad you texted me at 2:30 in the morning to tell me you posted. :)