Ranch Blessing

Mike’s “geared up” with all his gadgets for his trip to help out at Uncle Tommy’s ranch.  But when he gets there, he finds the pace of life a little different than he expected.  How will Mike do without all the noise? 

How about you…

Do you have regular times in your life when you turn off the gadgets and the noise and just spend time in silence?  How does it feel to think about doing that?

Check this out…

The Bible has a lot to say about noise—and not all of it is bad.  We are instructed to praise God by making a joyful noise!  But in most places, there are very noisy scenes depicted in a negative way.  Like in Psalm 46, picture this scene:

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.

Seems pretty noisy and pretty scary too, huh?  Well, the rest of that Psalm is talking about how in the middle of all that noise, God is here to provide a place of quiet and rest:

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
       the holy place where the Most High dwells.

  God is within her, she will not fall;
       God will help her at break of day.

  Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
       he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

  The LORD Almighty is with us;
       the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Our God is described here as a FORTRESS where His dearly loved children can go to escape the noise and the scary situations of life.  So, what do we have to do to get to this place of protection?  Look at how the psalmist ends this Psalm:

"Be still, and know that I am God;
       I will be exalted among the nations,
       I will be exalted in the earth."

  The LORD Almighty is with us

That’s the answer; we don’t have to do anything, or go anywhere.  We just need to quiet our spirits, or our surroundings, so that we can recognize the truth:  that He is who He says He is and He is WITH US!