I have seen dozens of movies that portray the whole military, boot camp, drill sergeant routine. It is always a big man with veins popping in his neck, yelling in the face of the young enlistees. His job is to scream the spirit out of them – to break them so they can be rebuilt the way the military wants them. I have not been in the military; I have not actually witnessed or experienced real boot camp, so I cannot attest to the accuracy of the picture the movies portray. I have, though, seen life act this very way over and over again. A loud, screaming, yelling, noisy life that given the chance tries to break the spirit and faith in me and tries to mold me into the same, worldly, walking dead who surround me in everyday life.

I think satan is a master at noise – he builds up so much noise in my world it gets hard to defeat, to silence, to fight through the noise and to keep my peace and focus. He uses everyday noise. He uses personal noise. He throws a cacophony of awful, screeching, terrifying stormy noise – all designed to distract me from God and from God’s still small voice in my life.

The noise isn’t always spectacular or special. Recently I was diagnosed with sever anemia. Given that my hemoglobin numbers every year prior were completely normal, this was concerning to my doctor. So very quickly we pursued a number of different diagnostic procedures to find out why I very suddenly had such a low number. Very quickly I had lots of procedures, preparations for procedures, blood draws and appointments. Many different doctors all throwing their two cents in. many well meaning (but not doctors) people throwing their two cents in. suddenly I was weighed down by all the pennies from everyone’s two cents. I had so much information – noise – coming at me at once that I couldn’t’ make sense of any of it. The noise of all the information was drowning out any understanding, any faith, I could find in the situation. Satan was very successfully distracting me from the only real information that I needed. God is the ultimate healer and always had me and this situation in His hands. As soon as I silenced the world’s noise; peace was mine.

1 Samuel 2:9 “He will guard the feet of His faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. It is not by strength that one prevails.”

Psalm 4:8 “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for You alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

Psalm 42:7-8 “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me – a prayer to the God of my life.”

This noise happens more spectacularly during times of trial – during the storms and valleys we all will inevitably face. During these times satan isn’t subtle – the noise isn’t just regular information bombarding me. During trials, the noise becomes much more personal. A lost job and suddenly I hear “God clearly doesn’t care about you”. A kid is struggling with addiction and the parent is told it must be the way they raised the child. A friend faces a serious diagnosis and they feel they must not be living good enough, they are being punished by God for their sins. In times of trial the noise that attacks me tries to convince me that it is my fault, that I have somehow done something to bring it on or not done something to prevent it. I hear the thunder and the waves and become so blind from all the noise that I cannot find my anchor. I cannot find the God that I know never promised life would be easy – but who did promise He would walk every step of it with me. When I shut out the noise of the world, I can cling to my anchor and refuse to sink in the storm.

Psalm 46:1-3 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Even with all this daily noise and spectacular noise – I find the nosiest place in my life is around my faith. It is a resounding noise of the world against that which they don’t understand. They don’t understand the fact that I know God; God who loves me unconditionally without me doing a thing except accepting Him and His Son who He sent to atone for my sin. It is hard for many to understand this and they surround me with their noise. These people who have tried everything they can to fill the hole that only God was meant to fill, they try to drag me into their emptiness with them.. The voices that tell me doing drugs, getting drunk all the time, sleeping with a bunch of guys, lying, cheating, stealing – these are all just the way the world works. They try to convince me that everyone lives this way – there is nothing wrong with it, and I should live this way too. They try to convince me my life will be better if I just join what “everyone” else is doing. There is so much noise to conform to the world it is hard to fight. It is hard not to let the noise just take over and carry me off.

But oh the joy in the silence, in tuning in to God’s perfect purpose and plan in my life.

Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.”

With all this noise yelling in my face – how do I get to the silence? God gave me the formula.

Ephesians 6:10-18 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devils schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything, stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waste, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feat fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

Read the Word, write it on my heart. Pray. Stand in faith. Go into every battle, every day-to-day situation and everything in between – firmly planted in faith, in God! God’s still small voice is always there, always waiting patiently for me to just lean in and listen., to really hear Him. He is the peace in the everyday. He is the perseverance in the storm. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is the armor for every battle.

He is the silencer.

He quiets all the clanging noise trying to rob me of my life.

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heats be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Colossians 3:15 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since a members of one body you were called to peace and be thankful”

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

Jump out of the noise.

Sink deep into His silence and hear the amazing promises God has waiting for you.