Rain in My Box

The house was quiet this morning. I was doing my morning Bible reading when I heard a noise. It sounded like someone tossing something against the sliding glass door. I was home alone and was concerned someone was outside the door. What, or who, could be making the noise? I got up and very carefully looked out the blinds covering the glass doors. There, before my very eyes was the culprit: rain! It has been what seems like months without rain, and I have grown unaccustomed to the sound of it beating on windows.

Sometimes our lives are the way I was when I heard the unfamiliar sounds of rain hitting the windows. I have heard rain on windows many, many times during my life but it has been such a long time since I've heard it that, at first, I wasn't sure what I was hearing. That's what I mean about our lives being like that. We know the sound of God's voice, we've heard it many, many times in the past, but for one reason or another, it's been a long time and when it does come, we are unsure what we are hearing.

We get up, see what is happening, and realize God is speaking to our hearts and we are put at ease. There are many reasons, or distractions, that keep us from hearing that still, small voice: work, family, life in general. We are so busy doing our daily routines that sometimes the voice is pushed aside, unheard and unheeded. I Kings 19:11 tells about Elijah's experience in hearing the familiar voice of God: "And He said, Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a sound of gentle stillness and] a still, small voice. When Elijah heard the voice, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave."

The next time you or I hear that familiar, sweet voice of God, may we be so attuned to it that we will welcome its wooing with open arms and a ready heart.