Submitted by Kerry Patton
“My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments
with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to
understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for
understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden
treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge
of God.” Proverbs 2:1-5
Driving to
Dallas
There I was, travelling on Highway 183 on my way to make a
hospital visit on Harry Hines boulevard in Dallas. I’ve been there several times visiting other
church friends in the hospital district.
On this day, I programmed my destination into my Charger’s navigation
system. It will give me turn by turn
instructions on how to reach my destination, monitor my speed, and advise me
almost instantaneously on how to get back on course should I make a wrong turn.
Then I have what I think is an excellent idea: I have the app “Waze” on my telephone… If you
aren’t familiar with Waze, it is an excellent navigation program that
incorporates an interactive social network factor that can be very helpful by
advising travelers on road hazards, traffic backups, speed traps, and other
travel complications. So, as Metroplex
traffic can be very unpredictable, I decided to run Waze along with my cars
navigation so I can stay apprised of what is going on right now, ahead of me!
So, off I go! My car’s
navigation is showing me my path. The
voice prompts are clear and concise… “In 500 feet, keep right.”
Then something completely unexpected happens: The navigation
program Waze begins giving voice prompts as well! Problem is, the prompts it is giving are
NOT the same path as the prompts given by my cars navigation! Waze is leading me to my destination using a
different path than that of my car system.
While my car navigation is telling me to bear right and stay on this
road, the Waze app is telling me to merge left onto a different route! What is worse, the phone app navigation voice
is speaking simultaneously as the car navigation voice. I have two voices telling me where to go and
I am struggling to discern even what one of them is saying. I have too many voices telling me where to
go. My excellent idea turns out to not
be so excellent after all. It is
complicating my navigation to the hospital and not making it simpler and safer,
but more difficult and potentially dangerous.
As soon as possible and safe, I closed the phone app and used only
the single voice of the car navigation system to get where I was
going.
“My Sheep
Listen to My Voice”
In John 10:27, Jesus said: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” Allow me to repeat what Jesus said… “My sheep listen
to my voice…” It seems to me, one of the biggest obstacles we can encounter in
our faith walk is… (wait for it…) …we have too many voices speaking to us while
Jesus is trying to lead us down the path he has planned for us to go.
Too many voices! We have the voice of popular culture
impressing upon us the things we “should be” achieving, possessing, investing
in, avoiding, and accepting as normal.
We also have the voice of our own perception. This too can be dangerous. Proverbs 14:12
says: There is a way that seems right to a man,
but in the end, it leads to death. Often, what seems rational and reasonable to
us is not what we should be doing.
The voice of Jesus is that to
which we must train our ears. So, we
dive into his Word, the Bible, and we pray for the Holy Spirit to help us to
understand what God was saying to the people of that day. How was he guiding them? How was he correcting them? How was he leading them toward his will,
toward his way?
As we read at the beginning
of this devotional:
…if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you
seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will
understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
If there are too many voices confusing your navigation toward
God’s will for your living, then begin tuning out those which aren’t the voice
of the Lord!
Prayer
Father, train
my ears to hear only your voice. Holy Spirit, train me through the disciplines
of prayer, and the reading of scripture; and give me the will power to begin
turning off distractions…voices that are not yours.
In Jesus’ name,
we pray, Amen.
