In my opinion, one of the toughest things in our crowded and loud world which values busyness is to create enough space and silence so as to hear God’s “still, small voice”. But if we are to follow Jesus in a serious life-changing way we must find regular time to be quiet and listen.

Building this discipline into our lives requires work, it begins with a desire to carve out space. It requires giving up something, desiring to turn off the noise and find stillness, find quietness, find stillness.

Timothy Leary, the Harvard clinical psychologist, and of hippie fame, encouraged young people in the Sixties to “turn on, tune in, drop out.” While his countercultural phrase encouraged the usage of psychedelic drugs to find true consciousness, and that’s certainly not my advice, I do think that if we “turn on” a sensitivity to God and His presence, if we “tune in” by listening, and if we regularly “drop out” of the noise around us, we will “find” God and be better able to hear, and be changed by, His “still, small voice.”

We find a reference to God’s still small voice, a gentle whisper, in 1 Kings 19:12. Elijah had just been victorious over all the prophets of Baal. He heard that Jezebel, the wife of king Ahab, wanted to kill him. So, Elijah ran into the wilderness to hide. God sent an angel with food and water, telling Elijah to go to Mount Horeb and wait. In that cave, Elijah voices his displeasure that all God’s prophets had been killed by Jezebel, all except him. God instructed Elijah to stand on the mountain and wait for His (God) presence. Elijah was likely expecting God’s to show up in a loud and powerful way. Yet, wind, an earthquake, and fire came and went, and no God. It is after those had passed that God spoke to Elijah, in a still, small voice. To read this story, click here (1 Kings 18:16-19:13)  

It is important to note that God is not confined to speaking a still small voice. For example, He spoke to Job out of a whirlwind (Job 38:1), in Psalm 104:7 His voice sounded like thunder, and to Moses He appeared as fire coming from a bush (Exodus 3:2). God is not limited to a single method of communicating with us. Regardless of how He chooses to speak, it is of utmost importance that we hear and recognize His voice. And at least for me, I am best suited to hear God when I carve out time and space, eliminating as many distractions as I can.       

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.” Psalm 62:5

“Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray.” Job 6:24

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.” Proverbs 8:17

So, have you built into your daily rhythm turning on, tuning in, dropping out?

Throughout the years, it has often been said, “If you read it in the newspaper or hear it on television, then it must be true.” Sadly, we know that to not always be the case. There are many accurate well written and well thought out news stories across all types of media outlets, but there are also times when the journalist or reporter seems to have an agenda that shades the accuracy of the reporting. It is sometimes hard to tell the difference, so these days we tend to view all news reporting with skepticism. The same can be said of the ever increasing number of books that line the shelves at any bookstore, whether the book hits the New York Times best seller list or heads straight to the bargain table.   

However, there is one book – the Bible – that is the biggest best seller of all time, translated into more languages and read by more people than any other single book. It is accurate, trustworthy, reliable, authoritative, and relevant in all situations and to all people.       

I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. By inspired I do not mean inspired in the way that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was inspired to compose one of his pieces of music. By inspired, I mean that the writing of the Bible was done by human hands under the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In 2 Peter 1:20-21 we read these words, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus said these words to His disciples near the end of His life, “The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word in a divine act” (John 14:10b, MSG).

I also believe that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God, meaning that it is more than a book of good ideas or helpful hints to guide us through life. It is my belief that the Bible has final authority over us for what we should believe (faith) and how we should live (practice).

The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

In Hebrews 4:12 we see a similar message, “God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey” (MSG).

So, the next time you open your Bible, keep an ear tuned to God and allow Him to speak to you through the words on the page. Scripture is God’s Word to you, not simply human words about Him. Every word is inspired and hand crafted by God, perfect and true!

You have planned a day at the beach. The sun shining and there is not a cloud in the sky. You have your beach chair and umbrella, sunscreen, your favorite book, and a cooler with food and drink. Once you arrive, you see the beach lined with yellow flags. These flags are part of a standardized warning system used by coastal communities to notify beachgoers of potential water hazards. The most common beach warning flags are green, yellow, or red, indicating low, medium, or high hazard. A double red flag means that the ocean is closed to swimmers. And did you know that a dark blue or purple flag indicates the presence of dangerous marine life? So, unless you are wanting to star in the next “Jaws” movie, stay out of the water.  

In addition to warning flags, many beach resorts have lifeguards to maintain beach safety and rescue swimmers who are in danger. Even with lifeguards and warning flags to notify you of the potential water hazards, you still need to always be aware of the surf conditions because of the unpredictability of the water and the waves. The tide comes in then in goes out. The water isn’t even up to your knees then all of a sudden it is over your head. One wave gently tosses you around and you are having fun.

But, the next wave, it is a really big one, and the force of the water flips you upside down, pounding you into the ocean floor.  You come up, pulling your bathing suit from places it should not be, wondering why the lifeguard did not warn you of the rough seas. And besides that, the flag was yellow indicating only a medium hazard. Rip currents are not always easily detected by beach goers, but they can be one of the ocean’s deadliest dangers.

Life can be the same way. One minute things are calm and peaceful and then without notice a big wave (or two or three or four) comes and turns life upside down. You sometimes lose your breath and find yourself disoriented from all the pounding you are taking. You feel as if you are being pulled further and further from shore with no one to rescue you.

The Bible tells us that when, from your vantage point, even when you are being turned upside down, seemingly being pulled further away from dry land, that God has things under control and He can calm the waves in your life. Psalm 89:9 tells us this, “You rule over the surging sea; when the waves mount up, you still them.” We see a similar message in Psalm 107:29, “He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.”

Sometimes God calms the waves and other times He calms you in the midst of the waves. Either way, regardless of the color of the flag, you can always trust that God is in the lifeguard chair!    

About seventeen years ago, when our daughters still lived at home, we had some visitors, unwanted visitors, in our house. We lived in a community full of farmland, in fact, all around our house were corn fields. When the corn was harvested the field mice looked for new sources of food and shelter, thus they found their way into nearby homes. Each fall we could hear mice running across the drop ceiling in our basement. Unbeknownst to us, along with the mice in our ceiling there we also snakes, who had an endless buffet of mice to eat.

One fall season we became aware of the snakes; these snakes had most likely lived up there for years, only feet above our heads as we spent countless hours in our family room. For the next six weeks or so while a pest control company worked to trap and remove the snakes (when it was all said and done, they removed eight snakes and killed two others), our family lived in fear. These snakes had been up there for years and never once entered our living space but once we knew they were up there, our fear was on high alert. We were almost afraid to go downstairs.

The dictionary defines fear as “an unpleasant emotion caused by the awareness or anticipation of danger.” Even months after the snakes were finally gone we had a hard time relaxing in the family room. We had real fear, constantly looking around, expecting to come face to face with a snake. And much to our horror, during the extracting period three actually did get into our living space, tempting us to call a realtor to immediately sell “as is.” 😱

When faced with danger there is a physiological reaction that occurs in the human body in response to the perceived danger, causing us to either forcibly push back against the danger or to run away, known as the fight-or-flight response.

Fear causes us to be afraid. The Bible also talks of fear; “the fear of the Lord.” Is the Bible telling me to be terrified of God like I am terrified of snakes? The answer is no. We often see the word fear and frame it through our 21st-century eyes; danger = fear. But fear of the Lord is not a “scared” fear but a “positive” fear; one of reverence and respect, not wanting to disappoint God, a unique mix of awe and trembling that we feel in His presence (whether standing at the burning bush or listening to that still, small voice within).

Psalm 33:8 tells us this, “Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!”

And in Proverbs 9:10, we read, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”

[In both verses, the root Hebrew word for fear is referencing reverence, respect, honor, awe. In the psalm it is used as a verb (yârê’), while the Proverbs usage, as a noun (yir’âh).]

So, you see, fear of the Lord comes out of our reverence toward God. And reverence helps us live the way God desires us to live, and it is really the only appropriate response to our Creator and Redeemer.

If you are like me, you walk by a flower and do what? You smell it, right! Who doesn’t enjoy lovely floral scents? Do you know that flowers need to attract hummingbirds, bats, bees, butterflies, and other insects to transfer pollen to other flowers, thus creating fertilization? Flowers have a fragrance to attract pollinators. The flower’s fragrance alerts the pollinators that the flower is ready to be pollinated. Some flowers emit their fragrance during the day while others do so at nighttime. The scent is the strongest when the flower is ready for pollination and diminishes as the need for pollination declines. Most flowers produce a delightful fragrance, others can be musky or spicy, while others rancid, and still others actually have no scent at all.

[A flower produces scent within its petals. During warm weather, the essential oils contained within the petals evaporates, producing the flower’s unique scent.]

I enjoy the scent of most flowers. Some of my favorite smelling flowers are hyacinth, gardenias, and roses. Sometimes seeing and smelling certain floral scents stirs up evocative feelings, emotions, or memories. Just seeing a brightly colored butterfly perched upon a pink flower on a beautiful summer day brings a sense of calmness and peacefulness. The strong scent of a hyacinth at Easter takes me back to my childhood, as my mother always had one on our dining room table during that holiday. The smell of a rose simply invites love. In our culture we often use the phrase “Stop and smell the roses” as a reminder to slow down and enjoy and appreciate the beauty of life, to stop and allow the sweet fragrance of life to permeate into our souls.

In Scripture we are told that we are to be the sweet fragrance of Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 we read – “Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?” I believe Paul is likely pointing to Roman victory parades, in which incense was burned as a way for the Romans to let everyone know that they had been victorious. To the victors, the smell was pleasing; it represented freedom and life. However, for those who had been defeated, the smell was unpleasant, because it represented captivity and death.

The idea that this pleasing aroma affects both “those who are being saved” and “those who are perishing” is interesting to me. In my understanding of that passage, similar to the Roman victory march, for those of us who call ourselves Christ-followers, this pleasing aroma, a heavenly scent if you will, reminds us that despite our sinfulness, because of Christ’s death on the Cross, we have conquered death (victory) and are made alive with Him (Ephesians 2:4-6). On the contrary, for those dead in their sins (Ephesians 2:1-3) and far from God, I believe this pleasing aroma reminds them of that deadness, increasing an awareness of the need for Christ to remove the chains of death, captivity, and bondage to Satan.            

So, today I ask, are you giving off a sweet heavenly fragrance? Or, do you smell a fragrance that is drawing you in? Either way, ask God for more of it!  

Note from Dave – This will be my last writing for about ten days as I step away to rest, relax, and recharge. See you soon!

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” You have likely heard that proverb. It is attributed to Charles Caleb Cotton, the eccentric English collector, cleric and writer, who lived from 1780-1832. The 19^th-century Irish writer Oscar Wilde expanded Cotton’s quote like this – “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”

We are a society that imitates others. After Dorothy Hamill became the figure skating champion at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, every little girl (and many mothers) wanted the wedge haircut made so famous by her. There are innumerable Elvis impersonators all across our country, none of which sing quite like Elvis. As a young boy living in Ohio, I tried to model my baseball playing after Pete Rose. I wore his #14, crouched like him in the batter’s box, hustled around the bases, and even slid headfirst.

When I wasn’t trying to be like Pete, I pretended to be like his Big Red Machine teammate, Johnny Bench. However, no matter how much I imitated those players, I did not play baseball as well as them. Little boys often imitate their dads, and little girls, their moms, but in the end, those children need to develop their own style, become their own unique person.

When we attempt to be like others, in style or substance, we most often fail, leading to discouragement and defeat. Psalm 139:14 tells us that God has wonderfully made each of us. While we are all made in God’s image (Gen 1:27), He has also made each person in a unique way, for a unique purpose. We are not to imitate others, but rather throughout the New Testament we are called to be imitators of Jesus, of God in the flesh. (See Eph 5:1, 1 Cor 11:1, 1 Pet 2:21.)

Who are you modeling your life after? Who are you trying to copy? Are you imitating Jesus or someone else? Let me share these words from the apostle Paul. He has just spelled out what living in the Spirit looks like, in the Fruit of the Spirit verses, and he wraps us his epistle this way – “Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original” (Gal 5:25-26, MSG).

Be who God made you to be, and in doing so, strive to be like Jesus. You are an original, you are God’s masterpiece (Eph 2:10), so, find your lane, the lane He has for you, and stay in it.