2016 – Anchored
Anchored… To His Voice
DEVOTIONAL
“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 (NIV)
It was a cold, icy night in the month of December. My oldest son and I had walked out of the apartment we were living in at the time, to go to his indoor soccer game late that night. The entire car was frozen solid. There was ice all around. I started the car so I could start the heater while my son sat in the back seat. I walked all around the frozen figure that somewhat resembled my car, and started to scrape the ice off the front and back windshield, as well as the side windows. What seemed like an eternity only took like 10 minutes. 10 minutes of torture for my frozen hands. After getting back inside the car, as I was getting ready to back out of my parking space, my son, who was 6 at the time, simply said to me, “Daddy, I think I heard God’s voice.” Curious about his comment, I responded, “You did? What did He say?” Preston replied, “He said ‘son,’ but not like ‘sun’ like what we see during the day, He said ‘son’ like what you call me. He said to me ‘son, much better.’” I gently stopped the car as my soul quickly recognized this moment. I asked Preston, “What do you think that means?” He quickly replied, “I’ve been praying for God to help me do better cause I’ve been getting in trouble a lot,” (I couldn’t help but agree with him as he continued) “and He was just letting me know that I was doing better.” It’s been almost 3 years since that moment but he speaks of it like it happened yesterday.
I am often reminded that God is always trying to communicate with us. I wonder if there are just too many things creating noise around our lives that quiet His voice — social media, busyness, unresolved conflict, & social media.
When was the last time you felt God speak to you? He does it often, but He will first speak to you through His Word. Everything else He says to us will always support His written Word and will never contradict it. I used to think that God was somewhat of a grumpy old man trying to catch my every mistake so that I could be properly punished. How thankful I am that this “god” I often ran from doesn’t exist. The God that Preston heard that night is the same God who lovingly draws us back to Him; To His word, to His truth, to His love.
Even though there are consequences for our sin, Jesus was punished brutally on the cross so that we would stand as innocent, just as if we had never sinned. God’s voice will always bring us back to Him. To gently whisper in our ears, “Son… daughter… I am pleased with you.”
CALL TO ACTION
Take 5 minutes and begin to write what you feel God, the Father, is saying to you. Write it as if He is writing a letter to you.
SCRIPTURE
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” — Psalm 119:105 (NIV)
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” — Romans 6:23 (NIV)
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” — Romans 5:8 (NIV)
VICTORY.CHURCH