November 7, 2008 7:49 AM
EE and me - on the still, small voice of God
I subscribe to Elisabeth Elliot daily devotions. Today's resonated with me, for I also love the story of Samuel as a little boy hearing God call his name - and wrote abotu it in Lord, Please Meet Me in the Laundry Room. I thought you might enjoy both:
As a little girl I especially loved the story of God's call to the child Samuel as he lay sleeping in the temple. I wondered if God would ever call me. Would I hear Him? What would He say? Throughout my growing years I read missionary stories and heard them told at our dinner table by guests from many lands who came to stay with us. I was always eager to know just how they were called. As a college student I worried much about whether I would fail to follow the Shepherd, would be deaf to His call. I thought it such a bewildering matter.
It is not a worry anymore. Experience has taught me that the Shepherd is far more willing to show His sheep the path than the sheep are to follow. He is endlessly merciful, patient, tender, and loving. If we, His stupid and wayward sheep, really want to be led, we will without fail be led. Of that I am sure.
When we need help, we wish we knew somebody who is wise enough to tell us what to do, reachable when we need him, and even able to help us. God is. Omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent--everything we need. The issue is confidence in the Shepherd Himself, a confidence so complete that we offer ourselves without any reservation whatsoever and determine to do what He says.
What He says? But how shall I know that?
He calls us every day, "o'er the tumult of our life's wild, restless sea." He comes to us in the little things, in the ordinary duties which our place in life entails. When I was a child He called me. The duty which my place in life entailed was obedience to my father and mother. In school and Sunday School He called me through the teacher. What she said I knew I was supposed to do. In first grade (yes, in public school) we sang the hymn, "Father, We Thank Thee." The second stanza says, "Help us to do the things we should, to be to others kind and good, in all we do at work or play to grow more loving every day." God's call again.
It's alluring to think of our own situation as very complex and ourselves as deep and complicated, so that we waste a good deal of time puzzling over "the will of God." Frequently our conscience has the answer.
My friend Jim O'Donnell tells how he, a hard-headed, hard-hearted man of the world, found Christ. His conscience was awakened. The call of God was immediate: "Go home and love your wife." The change was so sudden and so radical, Lizzie could not make head or tail of what had come over him. This self-confident and self-interested man had quit living for himself. He had died. An altogether new kind of life was now his. The first difference it made was the difference that mattered most--in his private life. It was there that he began to obey.
We are not talking here about audible voices. Although people in Bible times often heard God speak, we can expect that He will usually speak today through conscience, through the written Word, through other people, and through events. Events themselves, the seemingly insignificant happenings of every day, reveal the will of God. They are the will of God for us, for while we live, move, and have our being here on earth, in this place, this family, this house, this job, we live, move, and have our being in God. He "pulls strings through circumstances," as Jim Elliot said, even the bad circumstances (see Genesis 45:8, 50:20).
Three questions may help to clarify the call of God. Have I made up my mind to do what He says, no matter what the cost? Am I faithfully reading His Word and praying? Am I obedient in what I know today of His will?
"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul" (Psalm 143:8, NIV).
Here was my take five years ago:
I love the story of how Elijah waited on the mountain for the Lord 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. After the fire came a gentle whisper.For someone like me whose life for many years seemed consumed with all kinds of commotion, to hear the gentle whisper - or, as the King James translation says, the still small voice - is a miracle and a relief. Only a few times have I heard actual words as we know them, but God doesn't need to use earthly words to impresses my heart with things He wants me to understand. He uses a still small voice.It was the voice that called Samuel (1Samuel:3) while he lay in bed. The voice called him quietly and simply - called him by name. At first Samuel didn't know the voice, and went to Eli, the priest in whose service he was. Three times the voice called Samuel's name, and three times Samuel answered his earthly authority. Then Eli understood who was really calling and told Samuel how to answer the Lord.
"Speak, for your servant is listening." And God spoke to Him.
Just as I want to be practicing His presence as many moments a day as I can - yes, I know so far it has been far from most moments, but I'm not going to give up trying - I want my heart to be like Samuel's, turned to God and whispering, "Speak, for your servant is listening."
God, your servant Barbara is listening! Listening for your direction this day. Listening for your wisdom in dealing with a wayward child. Listening for your patience when I've lost my own. Listening for your comfort when I'm tired or depressed. Listening for your assurance that I needn't compare myself to others. Listening for your encouragement as I encourage other mothers. Listening for anything that will help me become more conformed to Christ.You'd think by now, with 12 kids, 8 grandchildren, and 34 years of practice I might not need to listen so hard, but I do. For there are days I seem to barely get through - but then there are days my spirit soars on wings like eagles, when I can run after my kids and not grow weary, when I can walk miles just cleaning up my house and not be faint (a mother's paraphrase of Isaiah 40:31).
What makes the difference? I guess it's whether I'm really listening or not, whether I'm really ready to let God lead. Knowing God as Abba father, it seems natural to put my hand in his and let Him lead me where He wants me to go, but some days I'm better at it than others.
I remember in the movie Chariots of Fire, when Eric Lidell's sister scolds him for choosing running over missionary work. Eric listens respectfully, and agrees that his desire to run makes no sense at all, adding, "I just know that when I run I feel His pleasure."
I want to feel God's pleasure, too. Which means I will listen for His guidance on the big issues and small ones too.
Sometimes that means going against the advice of friends - as when we moved to a rural community and after years of home schooling felt led to enroll our children in public school. Since then, we've listened for guidance each year for each child. Had I decided I would home school everyone for 12 years, or had I decided I'd never home school at all - had I made up my own mind, how could I have heard what God would have me do?
Sometimes it means unique ways of handling family matters. Here's an example: Following cultural tradition, Tripp and I might have been ashamed that our first son was born less than nine months after our marriage. We might have fudged on dates, or made it a taboo subject. However, since we've since been redeemed and forgiven, and since we know God used my pregnancy to nudge us into a commitment which would eventually lead us to Him, we actually make it a point on Joshua's birthday to recount God's miracles with our family. In fact three sons would be born before Tripp and I came to believe, three sons whose names speak of belief. Their names - Joshua Gabriel, Matthew Raphael and Benjamin Michael - like fingerprints all over the first four years of our marriage, reveal that though we didn't know it, we were always in God's hands.
In all the noise consuming our attention over the last year - and doesn't it seem more quiet now that it's over and we're refocusing on the little things we can do to make the world a better place through our own lives and families? - I felt EE's message was a real gift from God, coming at just the right time.
Posted in Elisabeth Elliot, Inspiration | Permalink
