I love to drive. Often, I will just get in my car and drive around for a few minutes, especially when I have been working on something difficult and need to clear my head or try to get a fresh perspective. I think it is mostly soothing because my radio is always on when I’m driving. Usually, it is tuned to a Christian station. So, as I drive, I hear praise and worship songs played or short inspirational devotionals conveyed which speak to me and the situation I was finding difficult to process. In those moments, it becomes obvious that God is speaking directly to me, giving me the guidance I am seeking.
This past week, however, this routine was abruptly altered. I got in my car and all I heard coming from the radio was static. The station was not airing for some reason. So, I turned the radio off and just drove in silence. It was a strange sensation. My heart yearned to hear some message from God, but all I could find was static or silence.
The people of God have felt that way on more than one occasion. Perhaps the most obvious is the 500-year period between the Old and New Testaments, a period in which everyone felt there was total silence, in which God did not speak to them and left them all on their own. Have you ever felt that way? In the midst of what you may be going through, you may be wanting to hear something from the Lord, but all you get is the static of the world or utter and complete silence. What are we to do in these circumstances? How can we overcome it?
Well, it took me several hours and several trips in my car that day before the answer came to me. Change the channel! Push the scan button and see where else the Lord might be speaking. So, I did, and do you know what happened? I found my usual radio program on another station! God was still speaking; I only needed to seek and find where God was at work that day.
I think we regularly expect that God will just come to us, that we can just go about our typical business and God will just appear. Yet, the reality is, sometimes we have to put in some effort, too. We have to want to find God. We have to desire to seek God out. We have to go beyond our usual routine and find the “stations” where God is at work today. Sometimes it may be our usual places, but other times it may be somewhere else. Where will you scan and find God today?
Always pondering,
Pastor Steve
