Are You Listening?
Jump Start Your Week With
Chaplain Gary Rayburn
Psalm 46: 10a “Be still and know that I am God”
A long time ago before people had refrigerators, in parts of the world where the weather was very cold in winter, people built houses to store ice in which it would last right into the summer - they used these icehouse to store their food - to stop it from going bad. These icehouses had very thick walls and no windows plus a door which fitted very well. In winter, when lakes and rivers froze over with thick ice, people would cut big blocks and haul them back to the ice house on sleds. They covered the ice with sawdust which helped it take longer to melt.
One day a man lost his watch while he was working in an icehouse. He and some helpers searched for it amongst the sawdust but couldn’t find it anywhere. A small boy who heard about the lost watch slipped into the icehouse while the workers were having their lunch. He soon came out with the watch to the amazement of the adults. “How did you do it?” They asked him. “Well”, the boy replied, “I just laid down in the sawdust, and kept very still and quiet - and I heard the watch ticking. It was easy to find it then.” The only way that the boy was able to hear the watch ticking was by being
very quiet and still - by having patience. When Jesus left his friends and disciples he promised that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came, but he didn’t say when that would happen. So they all went to a room together and they stayed there and they must have had patience because they prayed for days on end for Jesus promise to be fulfilled. There must also have been times when they were quiet and still, just like the boy in the icehouse and I’m sure that when they were, that’s when they were able to hear God speak words of encouragement to them to keep going because their prayers would be answered in time. There are times when we need to be quiet and still to listen for God’s voice speaking to us.
