Recently I have been trying to hone my birding skills by learning bird songs. I figure I can go birding by sitting in a folding chair and just listening. Once I hear and identify a bird call I can add it to my day’s list. Obviously some calls are fairly easy to learn. Is there anyone who can’t identify a robin by sound? However, the flycatchers and the warblers are something else. I have a lot of learning to do. A lot of it is learning to listen. We take listening for granted since we have been doing it prior to our birth. But skilled listening is another story. It takes practice; lots of practice.
I think the same can be said for hearing the still small voice of God. He wants so very much to talk to us but He is careful not to blow us away with a big thunderous voice. He chooses to whisper. He is gentle that way. If we fill our ears with the sounds of life and add to them the sounds of music in the car, music while we walk, music while we study, we make it difficult for Him. We overpower Him.
He especially likes to talk to us when we read His word. He has excellent commentary to add to Matthew and John. He likes it when we read about Jesus and He wants us to feel the breeze from the shores of Galilee. He wants us to savor the sweet scents of food in the marketplace of Nazareth. There is so much to experience when we take our time. Don’t try to read the Bible through in a year. If you set that for a goal there will be days you will rush to keep on schedule. Those might be the very days He has something special to say.
Written by Roger Bothwell on June 22, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org