“How faint the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?” (Job 26:14)
There is so much noise inside my head these days, I can barely stand it. Beeps and buzzers, bells and whistles. I’m not stark-raving mad (well, maybe I am, what do I know). I’m talking about the fanfare of telephones ringing, microwaves beeping, door bells clanging and car horns blasting. Pavlov would run like a dog if he were living today.
We’re programmed early on in life to jump when the bell rings. Take the ice cream truck, for example, blaring annoying music as it crusades down the street. Children come running out of their houses as the Pied Piper lures them into his snare. When my kids were little and the ice cream truck drove past playing their music I would tell them “that’s the song they play when they’re out of ice cream.”
In order to keep up with this feverish fracas, we have begun raising our voices in competition with the noises. There are several televangelists who fit this bill. One preacher in particular comes to mind. Every Sunday, he walks out to the podium, and immediately launches into World War III, shooting off his mouth like he’s a live cannon. “GAWD IS IN DA HOUSE!” He yells, as he paces back and forth on the stage “AND GAAWWD ISN’T AFRAID OF THE DEVIL!” Then he stomps his feet and thumps his Bible for added effect.
And then you have the people that are hand talkers. They think their voice alone isn’t enough, so they start flapping their hand signals to get the job done. My husband Mark is one of those hand people. He literally cannot talk unless he’s using his hands! Once, when we were driving down the highway, I reached over to hold his hand. To my surprise, he had to actually take his other hand off the wheel in order to continue his conversation. “Look Ma, no hands!”
Now if only God would speak to us this loudly, we wouldn’t have any excuses for ignoring Him. Though there are times He will shout to get our attention, most of the time He whispers ever so quietly, gentleman that He is. Instead of zapping lightning bolts to get our cooperation, He walks softly and carries a big Bible. Take this next scripture for example:
The Lord said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. (1 Kings 19:11-13)
If we still ourselves long enough, we too can hear the whisper in the wind. Sshhh…God is speaking. Can you hear Him?
I once asked Mark if he was glad I didn’t play any guessing games with him. If I want something, I come right out and say it. To which he replied “That’s because I know as long as I do what the voices in your head tell me to, life will be so much easier.”
