Today I write more from a place of pain than anything else, yet I am amazed at how Papa is shouting to me. I have written about some of His "shouting" in past blogs (August 26 and November 20, 2009, and January 21 of this year come to mind), but each of the previous times I was writing from a better looking place than the view I am currently experiencing. Yet Papa continues to shout encouragement to me, and I am so undone by this evidence of His stubborn, pursuing love.
It is common, of course, to think that God stops communicating when things get rough, or that He whispers while pain and the enemy shout, but how sad that would be if it were true! Thankfully, the truth is that God not only shouts when the storms threaten to drown out His voice, He shouts at just the right time with just the right words! All we have to do is pay a wee bit of attention once we "hear" His shouting. Today, for example, everywhere I was looking, I was being reminded of key scriptural promises God has given to us. He was using glances at the clock, license plate numbers that just happened to be on the car in front of me, emails and FB comments, etc. I would have to be really beyond reach not to hear Him right now!
Isn't this just what we would anticipate a good parent doing? Any time a good parent sees that the noise is threatening to drown out what her/his child needs to hear, s/he raises the volume and intensity. And the greater the danger and the larger the need, the louder and more pervasive the communication will be until the message gets through!
Now a child can still choose to ignore their parent's voice, of course, but I for one don't wish to do that. And so I come, listening as best I can and stopping to fix my gaze on where the Speaking Voice is coming from. Then His peace comes, His face begins to blot out the false perceptions and His truth begins to replace "the facts" (as I perceive them).
Thank you, Papa, for shouting today until you got my attention. I long for the day when I can hear your whisper in the storm, but I am unspeakably grateful that for now you shout!!!
"Unless the LORD had given me help, I would have soon dwelt in the silence of death. When I said, 'My foot is slipping!' Your love, O LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul." (Psalm 94:17-19 NIV).
Tom, one of Abba's children
1 comment:
"That phrase has come to my mind again today, as it has many times in the past several months." Such truth in those words!
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