Avoid the noise of the world by following the Spirit

James E. Faust in an article in the June 2006 Ensign magazine, described the many kinds of noises which distract people today from hearing the voice of the Lord. Some of the voices he described were murmuring and complaining, whining and seductive, intellectual and proud, flattering and entertaining, commercial and cynical.  Paul described this time as well as his own when he said there are "so many different kinds of voices in this world" (1 Cor. 14:10). 

I was reading his article on my computer, when in the bottom right hand corner an envelope started flashing saying I had new mail.  So I left the article and went to read my mail -- a distracting noise that took me away from what I was doing. This was a strong illustration of Faust's point. So many times in my life distractions take me away from my real purpose. The distractions may entertain or sooth me, but they also keep me from doing the things I really should be doing.  For example, it is so much easier to turn on the TV instead of reading scriptures and praying. 

Faust said, "It may be harder for our rising generation to be faithful, perhaps in some ways even more challenging than pulling a handcart across the plains. When someone died in the wilderness of frontier America, that person's physical remains were buried and the handcarts continued west, but the mourning survivors had hope for their loved one's eternal soul. However, when someone dies spiritually in the wilderness of sin, hope may be replaced by dread and fear for the loved one's eternal welfare." 

To avoid distractions that lead us away from God, he suggests we have a purpose, exercise moral agency, search the scriptures, and strengthen our testimonies of Christ's redemptive powers.   A simple solution "for selecting the channel to which we attune ourselves" is to "listen to and follow the voice of the Spirit." This solution "requires patience in a world that demands instant gratification. This solution is quiet, peaceful, and subtle in a world enamored of that which is loud, incessant, fast paced, garish, and crude. This solution requires you to be contemplative while your peers seek physical titillation.... This solution is one unified, consistent, age-old message in a world that quickly becomes bored in the absence of intensity, variety, and novelty. This solution requires us to walk by faith in a world governed by sight."