After tears subsided and prayers pleaded, I sat and got quiet. Listening can be so hard when you want answers now but they don’t come right away.
And then they do.
In my spirit, a small still voice invited me into a holy place.
Be still and wait.
I journeyed back to Moses instructing his terrified followers with their backs against the Red Sea, their enemy approaching. They had no way out. And Moses said:
Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:13-14
And David was told the same by God:
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37:7
And God gave Isaiah and his people a promise:
Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! Isaiah 30:18
Could it be that the LORD of Old Testament is speaking the same words to me? I tell Him I want to be sure I’m hearing Him correctly. Billboards are what I need because I can be so spiritually slow, so dense.
Please God, if you will, would you affirm that this is what you want me to do—all you want me to do for right now?
Scene change.
It’s gun season around here this week and testosterone driven men are hunting all around us for the trophy big buck. We’ve seen him on our farm, this good-looking eight pointer. He beds in our dried up cattail pond and is flushed occassionally by our yellow lab pup. Todd and Nick have secured the blind along one of the deer paths, entering before dawn each morning, hoping to catch—I mean kill—him, the buck. Today is Day 8. One day to go but no deer yet.
On the way to tutoring, the day after I asked God to confirm I was hearing him correctly about being still and waiting, Nick talks about the deer he hasn’t shot.
I don’t get it! Why do I have to live in this century?
Hmmmm? What do you mean?
Why do I have to live in this century where the deer have finally figured out that it’s hunting season and they’ve learned to be still and wait?
I thought I was going to veer off the road!
What did you say as I looked at him shocked?!
He said it again and I laughed hard. This sure seemed like a billboard of holy construction to me! And I thanked God right then and there. Then I messed with Nick a bit.
You know that buck you keep hunting each morning? He’s been sitting on our front porch swing with his buddies, smoking stogies and laughing at all you guys dressed in field orange and freezing while they’re up here enjoying the amenities of civilization. They just love this time of year.
He laughed and thought I was kidding.
Lesson. God always hears and loves it when we pray. He surely wants us to hear Him and will keep communicating till we get the message. He has a great sense of humor and knows that laughter is good salve for our souls.
Thanks God for the word, for the laugh, and for children wise.