Our sweet momma recently got hearing aids. She didn’t know she couldn’t hear. You see, a couple of years back mom had to have chemotherapy treatment for cancer. The type of cancer mom had was extremely rare. Mom was literally one-in-a-million. You’re thinking what I’m thinking, right? Duh! Treatment options were bounced around and chemotherapy was decided to be the best go. Miraculously, our momma was healed – Praise Be to God! As we all know, chemotherapy has its benefits but it is not without its effects (affects or effects, I always get those mixed up).
One of the possible effects of the chemotherapy is tinnitus – a constant ringing in the ears. Yep. Momma has that. I have several friends who suffer with tinnitus for various reasons, and it can be absolutely maddening. The ringing can be very loud, or very soft. It can be constant or it can come and go. It can be high pitched or very low. Mom has a very loud, high pitched, constant ringing in her ears. Unfortunately, there is no cure for this condition. There is, however, a treatment that may help. Hearing aids.
That sounds so oxymoronish doesn’t it? You already have this maddeningly loud sound in your ears and you want to add louder sounds to it? Yep. Mom went to see Lindsay, an audiologist, for possible hearing loss. Unbeknownst to her, the hearing loss was significant although she didn’t realize it because of that darn ringing in her ears. How can you tell you can’t hear when you can hear because it’s too loud?
Let me try to explain – I hope I get this right, Lindsay! The hearing aids cannot improve the tinnitus, but they can improve our hearing. Basically, amplifying the “good sounds” and making them well, audible, can teach our brains to somewhat override the “bad sounds,” the ringing, and just focus on the “good sounds.” Make sense? We’ve all been in that situation, maybe in a loud crowd, that you can’t decipher sounds, you just know it’s loud. For instance, a football game. You hear a loud crowd, but you may not be able to decipher what each person is saying, it’s just a roar. Or the sanctuary before the worship service starts. You can hear a low roar of voices but you cannot hear conversations. That’s kind of how it is with some hearing loss. So, since your brain only hears the roar and nothing distinguishable, it focuses in on the ringing making it sound louder. Here’s the help – amplifying sounds that you hear externally and giving them clarity actually can teach your brain to focus more on what you can hear and less on the ringing. It doesn’t make the ringing go away, it just trains our brain to focus on what is clear.
You see where this is going, right? Amplification of the right sounds can help drown out the noise of the wrong sounds. So what are some right sounds? What is music to your ears? Birds singing. Music (lyrics pending) playing. Crickets. Faith. Sweet voices of little ones. Conversations with people you love. Communion. Cattle lowing. Hope. Babies cooing. The Word of God. All of these beautiful sounds, when we hear them clearly, can help reduce those unfavorable noises that are all around us. What are some of those unfavorable noises? Anger. Separation. Meanness. Shouting. Dogs barking. Arguing. Discontent. Pride. Disruptions. Dissension. Anxiety. Depression, or anything in this world that takes our focus off the Word of God, the character of God, the deeds of God, the precepts of God. Anything in our lives that clamors for our attention, that steals our focus, that comes across louder than Him, makes us unable to hear Him with clarity.
Toward evening they heard the Lord God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves among the trees. The Lord God called to Adam, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:8
How incredibly cool is this? He spoke! He called to Adam and Eve in the garden. Where Are You? Where Are You? Guess what? He says the same thing to us – Where Are You? Where Are You? But, if we allow the ringing to overcome us, we can’t hear Him!
We tend to think he doesn’t speak in our time, but I think it’s more we simply don’t (choose not) hear. So, how do we hear more of Him and less of the world? What do we do? We use hearing aids – unceasing prayer, disciplined study of the Word, godly friends to help us grow. These things all help us to hear God more clearly. The bigger God is, the smaller the world is. More of Him, less of me. Silence the world and hear God.
And the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain.”…The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. Exodus 24:16
Again, God called…come.
She will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus. Matthew 1:21
Through His Angel, God spoke.
This is my beloved Son…Mark 1:11
God speaks.
Come unto me…Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus calls.
Come, be my disciples…Mathew 4:19
Again, Jesus calls.
Did you hear that? Over and over He calls, if we but have ears to hear.
If we use the tools He provided us, His voice will become louder, more clear. Hearing the right things clearly will overpower the unfavorable things. Are there some unfavorable things in our lives that are causing us to not be able to hear God? Do we need God to be louder and speak clearly to us? Are you listening to the ringing in your ears or are you using the hearing aids He has provided?
I choose to make God bigger and the world smaller. More of Him, less of me. HEAR the right things. Thanks you for a good illustration of what we chose to listen to.