“When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens.” Jeremiah 10:13 (NASV)
Each morning when I walk through our neighborhood, I cross a bridge over a small stream. I often pause there to listen as the water burbles and tumbles over the stones in its way. The sound is pure, a reminder of something Adam might have heard in the Garden of Eden. God seems to speak to me, calling me to slow down and listen.
One day I realized that, though I cross the stream again at the other end of my circuit, at that far point the current makes no sound. What was the difference?
Obstacles. At the farther limits of my walk, there are no obstacles to the water’s flow. The riverbed has no rocks or branches impeding the passage of the water.
Is it possible that the obstacles you and I face in life are the very thing that allow us to hear God’s voice most clearly? When we are most in need of the assurance that he is near, that is the very time when his voice speaks loudest?
“Father, when I face difficulties and delays, teach me to be silent and listen for your reassuring voice.”
