Dad, Are You There?
Christian podcaster and influencer, Allie Beth Stuckey, recalls an interview with Christian music superstar, Matthew West:
Christian singer Matthew West shared a powerful story about taking his daughter to camp. During an exercise, the daughters were blindfolded and the dads were told to guide them through the woods after repeating three instructions: I will never leave you. You can ask me anything. And only listen for my voice.
At first, he could guide her easily. Then the counselors signaled for him to remove his hand. He was no longer allowed to speak unless his daughter remembered she could ask him anything. Eventually, they got off track on their hike and a counselor quietly led her into a ditch without her realizing it.
After standing there blindfolded and confused, she finally asked, “Dad, are you there?”
Matthew said he teared up as he answered, “Yeah. I’m here.”
She continues:
This moment reminded him how often we forget the same truths about God: that He never leaves us, we can ask Him anything, and we need to listen for His voice.
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27, NIV).
"You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him" (Deuteronomy 13:4, ESV).
Be Still To Hear
In his book Directions, author James Hamilton shares this insight about listening to God:
Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer.
One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn't find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch.
Amazed, the men asked him how he found it.
"I closed the door," the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking."
Often the question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are still enough and quiet enough to hear. Yes, Jesus assures us that our heavenly Father always listens to us, but do we really listen to Him? Do we follow the instructions of Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God?"
Always A Reason To Be Thankful
A cowboy was riding his stallion down a dirt road when a police officer flashed his lights and pulled him over. He said, "Sir, I have been trying to pull you over for a mile. Do you know that your wife fell off the horse, a mile down the road?" The cowboy smiled and replied, "Thank God, I thought for a moment that I had become deaf."
In every season of life, we can find a reason to be thankful!
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).
Additional Application:
If you're having a difficult time hearing God's voice, make sure you haven't left Him somewhere back down the road!
"The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful" (Matthew 13:22).