I was pretty sure no one was – listening that is, to me. As a substitute teacher, I am somewhat used to this feeling that no one is paying attention to what I am saying. Actually, it is not just a feeling that I’m not being heard, it is a reality, an observable fact. Today, the noise level in the high school classroom assured me that they could not possibly hear me call their names for attendance purposes. Raising my voice would still not ensure I would be heard over the dozen or more of the class who were laughing and talking, well – let’s just say they were using their outdoor voices at full volume even though they were all seated right next to each other.

I guess none of them were feeling heard by their peers, so their voices continued to rise up over each other – each talking louder in an effort to command the group’s attention, which was constantly shifting as they continued to shout over each other. But that’s what we do when we aren’t heard, isn’t it? We turn up the volume of our voice. (commonly called shouting) It’s our natural instinct to get louder in our effort to be heard.

Unfortunately for the students, if they didn’t hear me call their name, they didn’t respond letting me know they were present. The result? They were erroneously marked absent. All because they didn’t bother to take the time to listen.

So now of course, I’m wondering – has God been calling my name? Is the noise all around me so loud that I would not hear His voice if He were? Like my students, do I refuse to turn the volume down, even long enough to listen for my name? Something else I notice about my students is that they often have earbuds or headphones in or over their ears, preventing them from hearing others’ attempts to engage them in conversation. They may feel isolated, but because of their own noise, they don’t realize others are calling their name.

I’m thinking this is how God must feel. He’s calling out to this lost world and we just aren’t listening.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 19:1-4)

But we don’t hear His message. We are too busy shouting at each other and over each other and listening to our own music and wisdom and ways – the noise of our TVs, radios, video games, social media platforms, (Facebook, tic-toc, twitter etc) fills our ears and our minds, leaving no room to receive any whispered words from God. Which brings me to another ironic twist.

God could just speak louder, couldn’t He? Isn’t His voice like roaring thunder? God could just shout louder than all the noise that surrounds me in this world. But that’s not how it happened with Elijah when he was in a cave on a mountain, wanting and waiting on a word from God. In 1 Kings 19:11-13, I read what took place,

“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”

The Creator of the universe could drown out all my noise by being the loudest voice by far. But He chooses to whisper to get my attention. I guess that’s why I need to be still (quiet) in order to know that He is God. (Psalm 46:10) Maybe when I am lamenting that God is silent, that is not the case at all. It is more likely that I don’t hear Him because I am not listening for His voice. I have my headphones on and my chosen noise turned up full volume. In my attempt to drown out the din of noise around me with noise of my own, I simply add another decibel to the noise level and turn a deaf ear to His still small voice.

After God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, they tended to turn a deaf ear to God as they wandered in the desert. Moses said these words to them,

“Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God!” (Deuteronomy 32:1-3)

I know my Heavenly Father hears me, I have His assurance on that. “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” (Jeremiah 29:12)

“I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy. Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.” (Psalm 116:1-2)

So my Heavenly Father listens to me, but do I listen for His words? (post – “the conversation of prayer”) Conversation is a two way street. I shouldn’t be doing all the talking. I find these instructive words in Proverbs 4:20-22 and in James 1:19,

“My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.”

“My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,”

While I have been thinking God silent, I have failed to realize that I have not turned down the volume, taken out my ear buds, sought out a solitary spot and gotten still in anticipation of His whispered words to me. I have been too busy to listen well, or to listen at all. But now I want to say with Samuel,

“Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:10)

I want to do what King David purposed to do in Psalm 62:5,

“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him.”

Surely in the silence I will hear His whispered words guiding me in the way I should go –

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’ ” (Isaiah 30:21)

my Heavenly Father is speaking, when I am quiet and listening, I will hear Him –

sincerely, Grace Day

yes, it is Monday all day today. And just for the record, it is also raining. So you know what song is playing in my head right now, don’t you? “Rainy days and Mondays always get me down” by the Carpenters, of course. At this point I should say, I’m not sure about the wisdom of listening to melancholy music when it is already kind of a melancholy day. Then again, Mondays have been much maligned ever since I can remember. I have yet to meet a person whose favorite day of the week is Monday. They have such a bad reputation – poor Mondays. They definitely could benefit from an image makeover.

I think for my grandma, Monday was laundry day – all day long. That would be enough to give Mondays a bad rep, laundry being one of the more mundane of all the mundane tasks, to be sure. Or maybe it’s that Monday is the first day of the school/work week for many – so not much to look forward to except more school/work at this point in the week.

Mondays are those days I am wanting a mountaintop experience, but I am in the valley surrounded by all the molehills I have made into mountains, which now need moving if I am to find my way out of this deep, dark place. Time to go mountain climbing, but I need a miracle. Miracles, however, require faith. Jesus taught His disciples about faith saying,

“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

That is a great encouragement to me, to know that even if I can only muster a small amount of faith (pun intended) Jesus can work with that to enable me to move my mountains. And there are days, mostly Mondays, when it is hard to muster the faith of even a mustard seed. But Jesus explains it this way to His disciples,

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32)

Mustard seed faith can move mountains! That truly is a miracle amid the mundane of a Monday, or of any day. As I start my mountain climb upwards toward the light, wanting my mountaintop moment, I become aware of many miracles amid this mundane Monday that have been surrounding me this whole day. Glad I opened my eyes to see them and give God thanks before this mundane Monday draws to a close.

Every moment is time spent in His presence, every moment an opportunity to be salt and light to someone who just might be in need of a little salt or a little light as they go about their mundane Monday. Lord, help me to see Your light in every raindrop that falls, bringing things to life after the death of winter. Help me to see Your many miracles taking place amid the mundane of yet another Monday, let me extend mercy to all, help my mustard seed faith to grow strong enough to move my mountains. Thank You, Heavenly Father, for mundane Mondays. Every day is a gift. Every day is filled with challenge and opportunity to be Your witness in this world. May I make the most of every mundane Monday.

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us (I will) rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.” (Psalm 150:6)

sincerely, Grace Day

Today I found myself thinking about these words of the late Jim Elliot, a missionary killed in 1956 in the jungle of Ecuador. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Those words remind me of a question Jesus put to His disciples when he asked them, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) Jim Elliot had the answer to that question figured out at a young age. Jim Elliot was no fool.

He was only twenty-eight when he died but he had already chosen “that which he cannot lose.” Perhaps he had taken to heart these instructions of Jesus,

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

Sounds like Elliot realized this simple truth earlier than most, which is “you can’t take it with you.” And yet we live like we can often, dedicating ourselves to accumulating “wealth” – for what purpose? I now have to ask myself. Nothing here is guaranteed. It is all transient and temporary. On the other hand, what Elliot was referring to as “that which he cannot lose” is eternal. 1 Peter 1:3-4 gives us this assurance –

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

So, my inheritance is being kept in heaven for me and it will never “perish, spoil or fade.” This definitely seems like the wiser option to me, as it did to Jim Elliot. Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:18 also let me know I would be foolish to put my trust or my hope in the things or “riches” of this world. Why? because they are not going to stand the test of time. They are not going to last.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

I don’t want to be a fool, an April fool, or any other kind. I don’t want to be thought of as foolish. Still, if I am thought “foolish” by the world’s standards, that might not be a bad thing. Consider these words,

“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” (1 Corinthians 3:18-19)

I guess that’s the key – not pursuing what the world calls wise, but seeking God’s wisdom. And He has promised to provide it.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5)

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (Proverbs 1:7)

I wonder if there is a day set aside to celebrate wisdom? I know I am always in need of wise counsel, which I find daily in God’s word. God’s wisdom is available to me 24/7 and He never sleeps nor slumbers. These words from Proverbs remind me just how important Godly wisdom is.

“Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. . . . She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed.” (Proverbs 3:13-18)

“to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.” (Romans 16:27)

sincerely, Grace Day