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I have a small Philips alarm clock radio that wakes me up every morning. I have the option of setting up a normal alarm or setting up the radio to come on automatically as the wake-up call. I chose the latter, and set it to my favorite Christian FM  station. It has been doing a beautiful job!

But recently, I had woken up and was praying when it came on! I did not do anything initially, but when the volume started increasing, I realized it was drowning out the conversation I was having with my Father in Heaven, and I immediately came in to shut it off! (Its FM alarm is such that it starts at minimum volume, and increases till it reaches the maximum!)

I have come to realize that, there are times that you need to shut off the noise in your life so that you can hear God more clearly and talk to Him more effectively. A lot of us might think that once the sound is “Christian” it cannot necessarily be distracting noise! We can be very wrong! 

READ Matthew 16:13-20

In Matthew 16:13-20, Jesus had a very profound conversation with His disciples about His person. When done, He started telling them about His coming passion and death(vs21)!
But Bible records that Peter took him aside and began to rebuke Him(vs22) – trying to prevent Him from going to the cross! Jesus dealt effectively with the noise in vs.23!

Jesus taught us a lesson, that distracting  noise can come from very close and familiar sources! It could be from a familiar radio program, family, friends, spouses, pastor(Peter was a pastor), previously trusted people and many more! It could even be something you used to enjoy, but the timing of it could make it a distracting noise! It could be something you used to enjoy, but the occasion could make it a distracting noise! It is a very close, familiar and subtle form of noisy distraction, that you can easily allow to persist and ultimately destroy the attainment of your vision! In Jesus’ case, Satan was actually using the newly revealed Bishop of His coming church (vs 17-19) to distract Him.

May God give us the wisdom to differentiate between familiar noise and uplifting wisdom!

MEMORY VERSE
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Written by:
BENNY MALM
For:
TESTIMONY DEVOTIONAL