“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Mt. 6:6
The voice came quietly. Simply. Three short words. So quietly, gently, I thought I had the perfect excuse to shove the words away. No booming voice. No emphatically loud voice. No loudspeaker. No burning bush. Though there were bushes, shrubs, and trees all around as I walked through a park with one of my sweet dogs.
Turn everything off. So quiet. Goodbye. I got rid of the words. Gone. Back to my agenda. My walk in such a gloriously beautiful place, through the woods, on the horse trail, on the other trail, on the wide lushly green plain, up and down the little hills, the big hill, and on. I walked, and walked. With my phone in hand. Getting ready to call people as I walked.
Turn everything off. I knew the voice. Well. His voice. The voice of the Spirit of the Lord God almighty. The voice I crave, and yearn, and desire so desperately so often to hear. To know and feel His love, His presence, His comfort, His wisdom, His instruction. But oh, yes, sometimes I pretend not to hear. Or question whether it’s His voice. Or shove the words away. Or debate. Resist. Rebel. Something other than what I know to do. Listen. Hear. Obey. Turn everything off. The words came again.
I had already made a call. Or two? Maybe three. Before I heeded Him. I was wrong to resist Him. To not hear and obey. Immediately. The message? In a world of ever increasing noise, volume, distraction, technology, and busyness, we must – WE MUST – take the time daily, yes, DAILY, to TURN EVERYTHING OFF and come into the secret place of the Lord most high, entering through the gates and into His courts, bowing down before Him in humble adoration and hunger, hungering and thirsting for Him and His righteousness, praising Him and seeking His presence, delving, deep, deeper still, into His Word, embracing Him, yielding ourselves utterly to Him, repenting continually of our wickedness, of our sin, and being cleansed by Him, trusting in Jesus as Lord, worshiping Him, increasing our intimacy with Him, the doors of our hearts and ears and eyes shut on the cacophony of this world, of this life, spending time with the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Savior of the world, basking in His sweet peace, His amazing mercy, soaking up His burningly beautiful love, oh worship the Lord, my friend, daily, daily, daily, worship our Creator, Lord and God of all, remembering when your time with everything off is over to re-enter the world at large with a passionate, fiery, commitment to live by His Spirit by His Word for His glory forevermore!