I'm posting for Jessica. (FYI - grap a tissue. It's quite moving. I had to blow my nose after tears of joy ran down my cheeks.)
This
devo from
crosswalk.com really spoke to me
this week, I hope it will you to.
"The
one who listens to me, who carefully seeks me in everyday things … that one
will find true happiness." Proverbs 8:34 (The Voice)
"I
just need to know you’re here," I told God, as I mindlessly
chopped carrots in preparation for dinner.
The baby whimpered in her
bouncy seat, the toddler begged for a snack and I wished our meal would
magically appear while I escaped to the bedroom for a nap.
My body was weary from the
demands of a long day with little ones; my heart was weary from the weight of
unanswered prayer. I was walking through a season of loneliness, and
I desperately wanted to hear from God.
I’d never heard God speak
audibly, but I’d experienced the Lord’s "still small voice" many
times in my life. In the past, words of Scripture had often leapt off the pages
of my Bible. I’d
gleaned heavenly insight from the lyrics of a Christian song, a sermon that
pierced my heart or the inspired words of a godly friend.
Why wasn’t I hearing anything
now? I’d been begging the Lord for a word of encouragement for months. But it
felt like my ears had grown deaf to the sound of my Savior’s voice. When I read
my Bible, the words fell flat. When I tuned my ear to Heaven, I heard only
silence.
Just then, my 8-year-old son
skidded around the corner with a shiny blue ribbon pinned to his shirt. He
hopscotched across the dingy floor, laughing as the ribbon caught air with
every bounce and flapped like a baby bird trying out its wings.
Suddenly, my laments were
trumped by my son’s noisy chatter about the track meet he’d enjoyed at school
that afternoon.
"I can’t believe I won the
race, Mom! I thought my legs were gonna give up, but I just kept moving my feet
and suddenly I was at the finish line."
His happy prattle mingled with
the rhythmic clank of my knife on the cutting board, and I looked up to
acknowledge his words with a proud smile.
"Did you hear me cheering
for you?" I asked.
I wasn’t sure if my little
runner even realized I’d been in the bulging crowd of parents flanking the
track that afternoon. Despite juggling the baby in one hand and the camera in
another, I’d cheered as loudly as I could when my son sprinted past us toward
the finish line.
"Yep," he said with a
grateful grin. "I heard you."
"Oh, good," I
replied. "I wasn’t sure if I was yelling loud enough."
My bouncing boy stopped hopping
on one foot and shrugged his shoulders. Then he looked me in the eye and
confessed, "Well, I couldn’t hear you with my ears, Mommy, but I knew you
were there, ‘cause I was listening with
my eyes."
My son wrapped his arms around
my middle in a quick hug, then pointed those fast feet toward the back door and
dashed outside to join his sister. I stood silent in the kitchen with the echo
of those words in my head.
When my
child couldn’t hear my voice, he’d sought my face.
When my
cheers failed to echo in his ears, he’d let my presence encourage his heart.
My heart lurched with
conviction. Maybe I hadn’t grown deaf. Maybe I’d grown blind. In my quest to
hear God’s voice, I’d stopped seeking proof of His presence.
Today’s key verse reminds us
God doesn’t just want us to seek His word with our ears. He wants us to listen
with our eyes, as well.
This concept is woven
throughout Scripture from the first page to the last. God’s people are often
commanded both to listen and look, to hear and see.
Bending our ears to the
promises of heaven involves tuning our eyes to God’s existence on earth. We
can’t hearken His word without heeding His "with-ness."
I dumped the carrots into the
simmering skillet and turned toward the window to watch my son chase his sister
across the lawn. They blazed a trail of giggles across the emerald green, as
the One who paints the sunset ignited the horizon with a blaze of orange glory.
I looked and listened while the
day gave way to dusk. And as the sun sank low, I felt the weight on my heart
soar high. Then, before I called the kids in for dinner, I changed my desperate
prayer for an expectant plea: "Open
my eyes, Father. I’m listening."
Dear
Lord, teach me to listen to Your voice with my ears and my eyes and to seek You
in everyday things. I want to know true happiness. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.