"What Speaks To You?"

There is a commercial on TV that for some reason so grates on my nerves that as soon as I hear it come on I reach for the remote and hit 'Mute' !!
I have never listened long enough to find out what  the commercial is about,  all I know is that the words "What speaks to you..."   are delivered in an annoying  tone of voice  that keeps the words repeating in my  head no matter how hard I try to block them out !

I was thinking about this commercial the other day,  as the words yet again re-echoed in my head and I thought...  No matter how many times this commercial  has tried to make me listen  to its message,  it has never got past my 'quick on the draw' mute-button finger !
I suddenly was struck with the thought --- Am I that quick to 'mute' out the voice of the enemy ?  so quick to 'mute' any voice that tempts me to look, taste or feel something contrary to exercising or developing a godly character?

There are so many voices the 'speak to us'   throughout the day.
Voices that call, entice, invite, tempt, distract.
Some catch  our attention and we turn our ears willingly ... others cause a 'mute' response from our receptors and we effectively tune them out.

But how discerning are we in what we mute and what we allow 'to speak to us'  ?
What controls the 'mute' button in our will and mind ?

 What is our standard, our guide regarding distracting voices of the world ?
Do we think it is OK to listen if we do not act on it ?
Watch if we do not participate?
Touch if we do not partake?
Taste if we do not eat ?
Do we justify to avoid denying ourselves?
Give in so we need not exercise our self-control?
Lower our standards so we meet them easily ?

Are we sometimes quicker  to 'mute' God's voice than the world's ?

I thought about  bible examples ... the times God spoke  to Samuel, to Elijah, to Moses, to Daniel, to John, to Paul  ... all quick to hear and obey.
Not like the people of Israel who gathered at the bottom of Mt. Zion and cried out to God not to speak. They could not bear to hear Him, and asked Moses to 'mute' God's voice to them.
I thought about those who did not 'mute' the voice of the enemy -  Achan quick to listen to the voice that spoke to him -- "Take it, no one will know!"
Or Balaam quick to listen to the voice that promised monetary rewards and power.
Or Ananias and Sephara who listened to the enticing words of the enemy .. "Play it both ways .. look good on the outside but satisfy your greed."  Not muting the voice  cost them their lives.

I once had a pet goat who had an amazingly consistent 'mute'  button for all voices but mine.  No matter how softly I called her name, her head would jerk in my direction and she would rush to my side !

That is how I want to be ...  sensitive, listening for God's voice though it be but a whisper, but my finger on 'mute'  to the voice of the enemy.

"And when he brings out his own sheep , he goes before them, and the sheep follow him,
 for they know his voice. 
Yet they will by no means follow a stranger but will flee from him, 
for they do not know the voice of strangers." 
John 10:3,4