White Noise | Tuning in to the Voice that Helps You Thrive
About this series:
White noise mixes all sounds at once—and life can feel the same, full of mental, emotional, and spiritual static. With constant noise from the world and from within, it’s hard to hear what really matters. This series helps us quiet the clutter, filter out unhelpful voices, and tune in to God. We’ll explore cultural overload, inner stress, and the spiritual drift that happens when God’s voice gets drowned out.
About this talk:
While part of the answer to living in a noisy world is to discern the white noise and then work at not giving it the attention it once had, the other part is to connect with God and hear what he has to say. We need to tune in to God’s voice, not only tune out the other voices. Imagine an old fashioned radio - in order to change ‘channel’ you had to proactively turn the dial and tune into a new radio station.
Perhaps tuning in to God sounds as though it should be a natural thing for us. We know him, we know how good he is. We know we belong to him, are safe with him and that time with him is well spent. But it’s rarely that simple. Tuning in to God requires us to come to him with faith that he will speak and with a workable plan for how to actually hear him.
In Mark 6 the disciples have come to Jesus after a successful ministry trip in the villages. They’ve been preaching, driving out demons and healing many. In fact, the disciples have been so successful in their ministry that there are now “so many people coming and going that they did not even have time to eat.” But surely they have to keep going - more opportunities for preaching, more freedom, more healing, more people encountering God’s kingdom. People are lined up waiting for Jesus. But what he does is fascinating.
He takes his disciples away from the ‘noise’ - the people, the ministry opportunities - to be still and get some rest with him, to tune in to him. So they climb into a boat and sail a few miles east to Bethsaida (Luke 9:10). It takes a decisive step for the disciples to get some time with Jesus - “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
The idea of tuning in to God is also present in Psalm 131, one of the 15 Songs of Ascent (Psalms 120-134). ‘Jews traveling to Jerusalem for one of the three main annual Jewish festivals traditionally sang these songs on the “ascent” or the uphill road to the city. According to some traditions, the Jewish priests also sang some of these Songs of Ascent as they walked up the steps to the temple in Jerusalem’ (https://www.gotquestions.org/Songs-of-Ascent.html).
David’s posture in Psalm 131:2 reminds us of what he hears God say in Psalm 46, “Be still, and know that I am God.” And also of what Paul says in Philippians 4:12-13, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…through him who gives me strength.” Being still, being content, calming and quieting oneself is the context where we can tune in to God. So David says, “I have calmed and quietened myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.”
It will look different for different people, but how can we learn - and put into practice - healthy habits of tuning in to God, calming and quieting ourselves away from the noise that normally surrounds us, even sometimes getting away from good opportunities in order to tune in to God? It could be worth offering a range of ideas for how we could tune in to God, whether that is sitting alone with him, taking a walk with him, opening his Word, worshipping in song, reading, etc.
Audio only
Questions for a Life Group discussion: How to tune in to the voice of God
Introduction
Read John 10:-4 and 10-11 as a whole group
Using AI or Google, do a bit of digging into the Greek word for 'Life' that is used in John 10:10. What might the original listener/reader have understood by that word?
Zoe - primarily used to reference life that is connected to God and empowered by God.
Thriving?
Break up into smaller groups (of at least 4 people per group)
Considering the meaning of 'Zoe', as well as other Scriptures, in your smaller groups, discuss how the world might define 'thriving' in life and how a Christian defines it.
After 5 - 7 minutes of discussion, bring it back and ask the different groups to share and see what differences they noted.
Ask as a reflection: to what extent are we as Christians still pursuing the world's definition of 'thriving'?
A voice we can trust
There are so many voices in the world, one day this is true, the next day the opposite is true. It's hard to know what to believe anymore.
Reading through John 10 v 2 - 4 and 10 - 13, and other Scripture, why is the voice of Jesus a voice we can trust? Maybe get people to share examples of how they have trusted in something God has told them to do or said and how they've seen it come to pass/help them to thrive, etc?
How to tune in to the voice of God
Scripture
Read Matthew 4:4 - what do you think Jesus is saying here and what are the reasons why reading God's Word regularly is so important for us?
What is something you might need to surrender in order to make sure you're feeding off God's Word regularly?
"This week, I will surrender ___ minutes from ___ and give it to God's Word." - share this with the person next to you and ask them to ask you about it next week.
Leader: Encourage hardcopy Bible, short passages, EDWJ, no pressure for perfection.
Posture of surrender
Read Romans 12:1
Why do you think it is more important to start the day with "Lord, I surrender", thank "Lord, help me."?
How does a posture of surrender help us to tune into God's voice?
Turn off noises that you can
Read Matt 6:30
"What is one voice I can intentionally turn down this week so I can hear God more clearly?"
Examples:
No radio/podcast on commute
Phone-free first 15 minutes of the day
Reduced social media after 9pm
Conclusion
Encourage the group to try this for 7 days:
15 minutes with God's Word (hardcopy + devotional)
Start with surrender, not requests
Turn off one unnecessary voice
"The Shepherd is already speaking. The question is—what will we do with our attention?"
