By Robert J. LaCosta
For Capital Region Independent Media
“If God seems distant, guess who moved?”
This old saying could be putting its finger on background noise.
An analogy, or “portal to heaven,” might serve to underscore what could build into the tragedy of your life.
Scripture tells us that we do well to pay attention to the body and the physical aspects of life because they teach us about the spiritual or unseen life.
“The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.” (1 Corinthians 14:6 NIV)
For example, background noise is the chief complaint of the hearing-impaired.
Distracting sounds can cover up some of the most important frequencies or pitches within certain letters and syllables thereby making words and sentences hard to understand.
Have you ever experienced yourself leaning over a table at a restaurant or wedding in order to stay with a conversation?
Background noise in the spirit is what Jesus addressed when he spoke of the worries and cares of the world (kids, grandchildren, marriages, health concerns, inflation, shrinking resources, unemployment, underemployment, etc.).
Was Christ insensitive about our real-time concerns? Of course not. He experienced everything life could throw at us.
Yet, it is easy to see why all of these nagging experiences could smother our relationship with God. We get so focused on the “conversations-within” about our cares that they can mask what God has to say about our problems.
In fact, The Lord might not even be talking to us about solutions to our problems, per se. He might simply be expressing His love in any number of forms. If we are too preoccupied with anxiety, it will grab the attention of our ears and we could miss His antidote to worry.
In essence, this reverses reality and makes the cares of the world the primary conversation while making us lean over the table of life to strain in order to hear the voice of God.
In short, God’s words become the background noise instead of the other way around.
What’s a person to do?
Returning to the hearing-impaired analogy, it is often the elderly’s experience that they suffer from isolation and loneliness. This makes family gatherings all the more precious.
But their impaired hearing exacerbates their frustrations at baby showers, graduations of grandchildren, milestone birthday parties in their honor and rare visits by the little ones who “talk too fast.”
It’s the sense that they are in the room, but an invisible wall between them and their loved ones makes communication and connection impossible.
What is recommended at many of these events is to remove themselves from the noise. Literally, go away. Take the niece or daughter or grandson or sister-in-law into another room where it’s quiet.
One-on-one conversations in a quiet place greatly increase the chances of having a successful, meaningful and memory-building talk. This might be “just what the doctor ordered” for the older soul who feels that there’s too much distance between them and those they cherish.
Spiritually, Jesus touched on this when he suggested that the disciples were getting separated from him when he told them:
“Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat. (Mark 6:31 NLT)
Single moms who can barely find time to go to the bathroom, dads who work all sorts of shifts, folks with high-pressured jobs, grandparents who find themselves parenting again all might nix the idea of going off to a “quiet place.” They might even come to believe that the world is devoid of quiet places.
But without some mental and emotional space that leads to a spiritual “hiding place,” these busy folks may find that “God has moved.”
Do you regularly take time to remove yourself from the background noise of life in order to simply enjoy time alone with Christ and have some meaningful and rescuing conversations which come through his words in scripture?
Robert J. LaCosta has been helping people hear as a hearing instrument specialist for over 30 years while assisting pilgrims with their spiritual hearing through his daily devotional “Portals to Heaven” which is free and comes to your email…yours for the asking at norepcom@gmail.com.
