For this is the will of God, that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of foolish people.

1 Peter 2: 15

 

It often seems like our world speaks in loud and continual voices. There is a relentless and all-pervasive level of noise that becomes the background to life. We are pounded and pummeled into a sort of insensitivity, and this state of passive acceptance is one of the primary objectives of the one who is behind all of this auditory clutter.

 

Evil wants us to be bombarded and pounded with half-truths and with misinformation to the degree that we can no longer distinguish what is true from what is false. Then, we can become like soldiers who have been hit by days of artillery fire. We get disoriented, confused, discouraged, and wounded to the degree that we can stop listening to God’s truth and start buying into the destructive message of Satan. His message always contains the need to turn inward in order to protect ourselves, for he tells us to build stout walls around our hearts and to hold on as tightly as possible to everything that we have.

 

God tells us that one of the answers to the clutter and the noise that surround us is to defeat its intent through action, by doing right. I have found that right doing can involve many different types of action. It can be a good thing done for a neighbor, an encouraging note, an unexpected gift given, or engagement in another person’s life. Right actions are found in our work place and in our community. They are accomplished in a moment and over a lifetime. The most fundamental of all right actions is accomplished by getting onto our knees before God. It is amazing how silent the voices of foolishness become when our ears and our hearts are communicating with the Lord. Wisdom has only one source, and listening to God’s voice directs us to living wisely. Acting on the Lord’s direction silences the foolishness that surrounds us.