Getting Out of the Noise

   Psalm 40: 1-2 says, "I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings."
   I read these verses, like normal, and was about to move on to verse 3, when I noticed that "an horrible pit" had an "a"  beside of it. Since it caught my eye, I looked to the middle of my Bible where it said what that a meant. It said, "Heb. a pit of noise". I stopped my reading, and just pondered on this for a minute.
   "A pit of noise". Now, I am not by any means some Hebrew scholar, but when I see the phrase, "a pit of noise", I think of some dark, decrepit dungeon, that is overwhelmed by the noise of people. Not necessarily just random noises, but I think of people shouting, I think of people discouraging you, maybe even someone tearing you down. When I think of a pit of noise, I think of maybe in that dark dungeon, your own thoughts overwhelm you. Negative thoughts, discouraging thoughts, that create a noise even louder than someone shouting in your ear. Maybe no one else is in that dungeon, but you and your own insecurities and fears.
   So, while I was reading this, those verses struck my heart. If you will notice, his goings were not established, and his feet were not upon that rock, until the Lord brought him out of that pit. This made me wonder what noises were holding me back in my own life. This made me question what "miry clay" was keeping me from progressing down the path the Lord has for me. Is there something I am listening to or letting overwhelm me?
   If we are honest with ourselves, we all can say that there are probably some negative people in our lives, people who want to tear you down, and stop you from reaching your goals. They think that just because they have not accomplished their goals, no one else should either. With these people, we need to avoid them at all costs. It is kind of like the Bible verse that says, "evil communications corrupt good manners". In the same way, negative thoughts corrupt positive thoughts, and negative actions corrupt your positive goals. There are some people who may overwhelm you with their "noise", but if you want to get to the place that God has for you, you have to take action to avoid that kind of influence, and God will bring you out of that situation.
   More important than those around us, though, is the negative noise we often place upon ourselves. We can have the most positive, uplifting people around us, and still be wallowing in our pit of noise. For example, in my life, for so long i've been told that I cannot do it all. I've been told that it is impossible for someone to be successful in their career, as a wife, as a business-owner, as a writer; etc, (fill in the blanks with anything you could want to be/accomplish) all at one time. For so long, it has been ingrained in me that we have specific things we are to do, and we cannot multi-task these roles. I'm not placing blame on anyone-you choose what you believe-but, irregardless i've had these false assumptions for a while. For a long time, I have just assumed that I was the "intellectual type of girl" (And really what does that even mean?) that goes to school, has a career, and knows nothing about home-making, or really anything outside of the field I have chosen. I never would admit that, but when asked about certain things, I would simply say I was not "good" at whatever it was. Insecurities and doubt of my ability just validated my negative thought process.
   How terrible is it to have those kinds of attitudes? In fact, some of you, like me, have let fear and doubt win, and may say to yourself, "She is crazy. You cannot possibly have it all. You cannot be everything for everybody." And that's where we go off track: Don't be everything for everybody, be what you want to be for God, and then yourself. If we let go of those noises we keep on replay all day long, and finally be determined to reach our goals, we can succeed. We should figure out what we want, and work towards it in the time we have. Think about things you may have wanted to accomplish for a while, but something, some noise has held you back. What if you, with everything you had, tried to accomplish your goals? What is the worst thing that can happen? Failure? Failure is not always a bad thing, and sometimes it even gives you perspective on how to change what you are doing to be successful the next time. And what happens if you succeed? You can be all of the things God has for you. Like I said before, once he got out of that pit, the Lord established his goings. (And the word "goings" is plural, which indicates more than one...it can be more than one thing) The Lord led him exactly where he needed to be, once he was out of that pit. And, just like the verse said, The Lord brought him out of it. If we placed these doubts and fears aside, and trusted the Lord, He is more than willing to help us, and to give us direction. I am by no means perfect either, but this is something that I am working on in my own life. It is so important to identify the "noise" in our lives, and to move from there. You can be everything God has for you, you've just got to get out of the noise.