Voices
I have been thinking a lot about all the voices in my head during the course of a day.
The one that says I’m ruining my children.
The one that says I’m a bad wife.
The one that tells both of those to go to hell.
The one that tells me to stop what I’m doing and do the other super important thing I forgot.
The one that reminds me to look at my phone.
Followed by the one that reminds me to not look at my phone.
Those are just a few of the things that crossed my mind in a matter of seconds. It’s awfully loud in here.
Almost storm like., winds and waves each on their own agenda attempt to swamp and sweep their way through me until I can’t think straight. They welcome the rain as a partnered distraction, which probably looks a lot like scrolling, it does tend to follow an up and down pattern. And while by nature they are not all bad, they are a surefire recipe for chaos.
A friend of mine pointed out to me recently how fascinating it is that the first things we know about God are that He creates and He speaks. He spoke creation into existence.
When I think about God speaking out into the void that was the heavens and the earth, I wonder if it was a active and swirling kind of darkness or the utter chaos of nothingness.
I wonder if that Voice carries the same timbre of the Son as He scolded the wind and the waves on the tempestuous sea? Its beyond wild to me that creation in the midst of calamity hears His voice and immediately reacts and moves to peace.
I wish this human heart responded to that Voice so quickly.
But like the wind and the waves, the voices that rage inside of me know His Name. It takes practice to scold them instead of listening to them. I have to choose to hear Him. I have to choose to layer their shouts with His truth. I have to know what sounds like Him and what He says is true above all things. When He speaks to His creation, is He asking a lion to fly or a the wind to rain? No, He’s telling them what is true in light of what He made them to be. And I think this is part of how we test the voices ourselves. Asking ourselves: is what I’m hearing true of the character of my Maker or is this something I have chosen to believe?
Let’s choose, friends, to tune our hearts to the One who made us and is still creating in and through us. His voice will always tell us the truth, even when we don’t want to hear it. His voice always, always longs for our good, whether He calls us to walk out into the chaos or for Him to completely redeem it. His voice never shames, but perfectly parents. He speaks and makes things new.
“The sheep that are My own hear My voice and listen to Me; I know them, and they follow Me.”
See more in John 10 about what Jesus had to say about listening to His voice and the voice of the one who only wants to deceive us.