Josiah Road

Play/Pause Syndrome

posted by Sarah Gallagher 14Apr

We are constantly bombarded with new technology that can distract, calm, invigorate, nurture, and brainwash us. It is a constant temptation, always right at our fingertips, always beckoning our attention. We have learned to juggle and multi-task to keep various technologies functioning at once. If that is too much of a challenge for us, we can always press the pause button. Pause the iPod, pause the movie, pause the television show. The pause function represents control over our intake and output. While we occasionally pause the technological stimuli from overloading our minds, we sometimes forget to do the same thing in our every day lives.

Like the endless array of colorful technology, our lives spin in a constant whirlwind of activities, commitments, and opportunities. Recently I have found myself so wrapped up in activities that I forget why I enjoyed them to begin with. As a whole, the activities become mindless and meaningless, causing me to detest my involvement in any of them, though at one point I enjoyed all of them. Soon scripture comes to mind, transforming my perspective.

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. I Kings 19: 11-12

This passage reminds me of God’s character and constant nature. Instead of arriving in a flamboyant, noticeable fire or storm, God reveals Himself in a “gentle whisper” or a “still, small voice.” We must desire His will and put everything else on hold in order to hear what He has to say.

Psalms 46:10 also instills this thought in my mind, Be still and know that I am God. I am a very active person. The only time I am ever still is when I am sleeping, and even that amount of time is limited. I eat on the go, I pray on the go, I think on the go. I don’t have down-time. But is this really honoring God? If I blast my stereo, turn up the television, and constantly surf the net without cease, I am going to miss something tangible in life that cannot be captured within the confines of an LCD screen.

In the same way, by continuing to try and juggle all my activities, even though I may claim some of the for Christ, I am demonstrating my proclivity to miss God. If I live my life like a whirlwind, I am simply going to be disappointed when God is not in the whirlwind. In pursuing my busy activities, I may miss His “still, small voice” that shows me the answers to all of my questions. Therefore, as I reflect on this depiction of a mysterious God, I hope I may push aside my wish to see God in a fire and listen to Him instead when it is hardest to hear – when I am silent and the outer stimuli is paused to reveal a much more in-depth, relational encounter with my Maker.