The Whispers of God

Sitting on the porch on day—soaking in the sun and thinking of nothing in particular—I noticed a bee squirming in a puddle of water. I must admit I lacked compassion for him, since bees had stung my daughter Catherine twice in the last few days.

All of a sudden from under the porch a tiny frog, not much bigger than the bee, leaped upon the drowning insect. Mouth opened wide, he snapped up the bee for a quick easy dinner. You can just imagine what that angry bee did, and how quickly the frog spit him out! The wounded frog leaped away as fast as he could. I have no doubt the frog learned if he doesn’t want another stinger he’d better learn wisdom when choosing his next meal.

Just when the frog spewed the bee out of its mouth the Lord whispered into my heart this teaching: We need to learn wisdom when choosing our words because similar to the bee, in time they may harm us because: “Your souls aren’t harmed by what you eat, but by what you think and say!” (Mk. 7:15, 16, TLB). Just like the sting of a bee, our words are so powerful they too can sting, as this Scripture describes: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit” (Pro. 18:21, NKJV).

Harmful words will sting not only others, but our own souls, as well. Our words can minister death and destruction, but they can also give the sweetness of life. Maybe if the frog waited and followed the bee home, he could have exchanged the stinger for a mouth full of honey, since “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones” (Pro. 16:24, NKJV). Well, maybe not . . . but if we could get wisdom when choosing our words, we would become much slower to speak. Ahh, but like that frog we all have difficulty waiting for the right moment to speak, and also in controlling our tongues.

(Excerpt from chapter 5 of “Learning to Hear the Whispers of God”)

Prayer:
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”
—Psalm 19:14, NKJV

The saying, “I’m not a doormat!” or “God didn’t call me to be a doormat!” is a saying that means, “Don’t step on me to get where you’re going.” But one day when I became upset about something I made this statement and the Spirit whispered into my heart:

“No, but you are are not the Door, either.”

Jesus is the Door. No one can enter heaven except through Jesus. Again I heard the whispers, “Donna are you willing to be a doormat if I call you to be one?” In my mind I could see a welcome mat—the kind that sits in front of a door. The mat cannot replace the door. The mat welcomes all who come to the door. God doesn’t always call us to be a doormat to assist others to the door, but if He does—are we willing?

By listening to the Spirit of God we can know when we need to remove ourselves from a situation or whether He has called us to be a “spiritual doormat” in this situation. When an angry crowd wanted to stone Jesus, He knew it wasn’t God’s will for that to happen, so He slipped away. But we also know of a time when He went willingly to a Cross to become the sacrificial lamb for us—knowing that this was the will of the Father. If we are faithul to follow the will of the Father, we will receive the blessing promised to the one who overcomes:

“Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life . . . He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death” (Revelation 2:10b, 11b/NKJ).

Overcoming can mean victory over our own self-will [i.e. not willing to be a door mat], or it can mean victory over situations that could tempt us to deny our faith. When we overcome self-will we can become victorious in offering Christ’s love.

(Excerpt from chapter 6 of “Learning to Hear the Whispers of God.”)

Prayer: Lord, Help me not to view the “welcoming mat” as a opportunity to be a victim, but rather as a time to be sensitive to Your leading of whether it is a time I should flee or endure. And, when I am to endure, help me to use the opportunity to elevate, comfort, encourage, and love…—whomever You send my way that they may desire to enter Your door.

Since our family lives without electricity and we tap into a well for our water needs, we operate a generator near the well. The generator provides the electricity needed to pump water from the well to a holding tank. If the water in the tank runs dry, it calls for a trip to the generator to turn it on–refilling the tank.

On one particular day when I was home alone, the water tank ran dry. This meant a trip to the generator, a chore I’d usually rather leave to someone else. This generator isn’t one of those fancy types that turn on by merely touching a button. I compare it to an old lawnmower I remember as a teen: a mechanical monster with a pull-rope that demanded I pull it with all my strength–only to be jerked back so fast I was certain it wanted to rip my arm off for dinner!

So there I stood over this cold monster, our generator. Reaching for the rope I pulled it with all my strength. It failed to turn on and fulfilled my greatest fears. Before I let go of the rope, it had yanked me back with such incredible force I felt like a cartoon character whose long, elastic arms streched down to the ground lke a chimpanzee’s. We played tup-of-war for a while before I finally sat down and cried out to God, and I do mean cried. Getting up . . . wiping myself off, I stared down at the uncooperative monster, giving one last pull on the rope–and it started!

Yet, instead of jumping for joy and thanking God, as I should have, I was miffed. “Ok, God,” I asked, “Why do You wait until I’m upset and crying before You will answer me?” The Lord responded softly and whispered in my heart, “You didn’t really want My help until you cried out. Why didn’t you exercise your faith sooner?” Of course, the Lord was right. Striving to win the battle in my own strength, I hadn’t sought God’s help until I’d given up, completly frustrated that I couldn’t do it on my own. The Lord began whispering to my heart, teaching me more about faith through this “whisper story.”

Just as I’d rather have sent someone else to struggle with the generator, we often feel more comfortable sending someone else to have the faith needed for our problems. And in the same way I tried to fight the generator with my own mucle-power, many times we try to solve problems by exerting our own brute strength. But what power source do we rely on? “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, Says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6b/NKJ).

We don’t win our battles by our might or power, i.e., strength. We win our battles as our faith grows–by putting less trust in the weak arm of self and more in the strong hands of God. It’s usually when we’re knee-deep in our own weakness that we see most clearly how strong our God is. (Excerpt from chapter 2 of “Learning to Hear the Whispers of God”)

Prayer,
Lord, Help me to live my life by Your Spirit and not my own strength–so that I might truly live, and bring glory to Your name.