I got my hearing aids this morning. The doctor warned me that it will take some time to adjust to using them. She was definitely right about that. The good news is that I now can hear and understand my caregiver sixty feet away in the next room. I will no longer have to ask people to move closer and repeat what they just said or shout it at me. The bad news is that my grandfather clock in my living room now sounds like Big Ben when it chimes every fifteen minutes and every little background sound is also magnified. My easy chair creaks so loudly I expect it to collapse every time I move. My power chair sounds like a jet engine when it is moving and also creaks loudly when it is stopped. I can hear m y sump pump start and stop in the basement and can even hear traffic noises even though my doors and windows are still closed tight. I can adjust the volume somewhat by pushing a button on the one in my left ear to lower it and a button on the one in my right ear to increase the volume, but in order to hear what I want to hear, I will have to adjust to the background sounds.
Because the hearing aids fill my ears, my own voice comes from the inside of my ear drum and I sound like I’m speaking into a megaphone. I can even hear myself chew food and breath. Before I go any further I want to make it clear that I’m not complaining. I know that I will adapt to them. When I was 19, I learned to copy Morse code through heavy static, so I know I can train my mind to ignore those irritating background noises as well.
I’m sure you are wondering once again what this has to do with living the Christian life. There is an awful lot of Background noise in our world today. We need to call on the Holy Spirit within us to train our hearing to recognize and understand the still small voice of God and to block out all of the distracting noises the enemy can create. Steven Furticka’s book about the Chatter Box goes into detail about how we must tune our ears and our mind to ignore the noise and concentrate on God’s word. Our minds can be trained to ignore the noise and then hear and respond to the still small voice of God and the promptings from His Holy Spirit within us.
The more time we sped with God in prayer, devotions and worship; the easier it will be to block out the interference, My hearing aids will require practice and patience to get used to hearing what I want to hear and blocking out the background noises; but I will master that just as I have mastered my concentration on my relationship with God in spite of the noise of the world.
Begin with prayer and devotional study of God’s word. Learn to recognize the prompting of the Holy Spirit and you will be surprised how quickly the distracting noises of the world begin to fade until you no longer even notice them.