I seem to have hit a theme here of birds!
I was out earlier than usual with Dusty this morning, and
realised that although the birds were raising a feathered chorus to greet the
glorious, sunny morning, I couldn’t actually see any of them. I paused and stared
at the trees in the woods and saw very few birds.
It reminded me of a walk I had a few years ago with a
birdwatcher, who kept pointing excitedly to various birds in trees which I hadn’t
seen at all and would have missed if he hadn’t pointed them out. He had trained
his eye to pick up the distinctive markings and the signs of movements from a
huge number of birds.
This drew my thoughts to hearing God. We all have trouble
hearing God, unless we have trained our inner ear for his still, small voice,
and trained our eyes to glimpse him in the everyday. That’s what he wants us to
do. He says in the Bible that those who seek his face will find him. He invites
us to spend time with him, sharing his thoughts. That is amazing.
How do we train ourselves to recognise the face or voice of
God in our everyday activities then? It starts with the Bible, I think, so that
we grow closer to what he reveals about himself there. We are aware of the
attributes of his character – his kindness, his compassion, his purity and
holiness and so on – and then we become more aware of the urges we feel within
us towards developing and appreciating these attributes. Then as we think about
him during the day, he sometimes suddenly draws back the curtain and we see him
in all his glory, or we feel him almost imperceptibly.
We begin to recognise prompts to do or say things – good things!
– as being prompts from the Lord. And then it’s up to us to obey. And as we
obey, we draw nearer to God and feel his presence more closely, and hear him better
each day.
Maybe one day I will be able to see the birds in the trees.
But more importantly, today I want to hear God more clearly during my daily
routine, which today is looking rather frenetic.
‘Be still and know that I am God.’
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