The Adventure of Not Listening

Sometimes the adventure isn’t a new twist in the trail, or waterfall to hunt. The adventure can come from missteps and wrong turns as well. Or in this case getting distracted!

I wonder why the Lord doesn’t speak audibly all the time. I would find it much easier. We are sheep after all and we need the extra help to hear His voice, right? At least I think I do. 

Instead He uses a still, small voice. I’m sure He knows what He is doing, but I am ready just in case there is a “feedback” box in Heaven. 

I’m joking!

Instead of speaking in a way I can’t ignore, He calls us close to Him and has a conversation with us. His voice is unmistakable to those who are close to Him. It requires us to become still and calm and listen actively to hear. It calls us to engage in our relationship with Him. We must stop long enough to rest, quiet ourselves and take in all that He is saying! He is a present father, who loves us deeply. As much as I might wish He would use the loudspeaker sometimes-He calls us into relationship, not boot camp!

We hear His voice every day, but we do not always hear it. Sometimes we brush it off as inconvenient or choose to ignore it completely. He doesn’t stop calling us. 

I have the perfect example for you.

Last week, the baby had just laid down for a nap so I decided to take a quick trip to the garden to grab the rest of the ripe banana peppers. I wanted to take full advantage of the most-likely short time so I grabbed the weed bucket and headed to the section of yard I was working in first. 

• Fill a bucket of weeds for the chickens
• Pick the peppers
• Drink water
• Eat Lunch

Easy peasy. I wouldn’t be in the heat too long, the yard would get some attention and I would be able to finish canning the peppers. 

This didn’t happen quite as I planned.  

I picked the bucket full, then decided there was just another three feet of weeds.

When I say just, I mean that they were really easy to pull and would come out easily. I could pull them and clear that section in just a couple minutes more.

“That’s more than your bucket.”

That still small voice had a hint of laughter in it. I wasn’t sure why the Lord wasn’t encouraging me to pick a whole bunch at a time since I was doing my chores!

“Yep. I know… but I’m just going to pick a few more.”

“You should check on the baby.”

Oh.. right. Yes, my time was short. Being the stubborn  determined person I am I decided to pick faster instead of stop. I am a little slow on the uptake sometimes. Especially when focused!

“Just take the bucket to the chickens and go back inside.”

“Okay, but how cool would it be to finish this section I always see 

from the house window?”

It would finally be nice and clean for one time this summer. I grabbed the last two big weeds. 

It is hard to get things like this done with a baby. I was enjoying the process of regaining territory!

I put my bucket down and started to climb down off the rock wall when I saw an easy to pull medium patch of weeds right next to it. 

I’ll just grab these too. 

“Go check on the baby. You can grab the monitor.”

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For those of you getting nervous—At this point it had only been about 5-10 minutes since I laid the baby down. He slept through everything and was a happy guy when he woke up. 

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I grabbed another two medium sized weeds. 

I felt a burning pinch on my left wrist. 

Ouch! I didn’t know where it came from but I brushed the wasp/hornet thing off my wrist and stood up. I glanced around and saw half a dozen flying yellow things rising up towards me. I took off at an easy jog. I knew they would chase me if I ran. Did they know the difference between a run and a jog? Wasn’t going to stop now and look, I might as well keep going.

During the whole “jump and run/jog” episode I looked down and lost my glasses. I could no longer see if they were chasing me or not.

I was also wondering if anyone was watching me freak out over bugs.

I waited a few minutes and went back to find my glasses. I was reasonably sure that they were somewhere.

It took me about 10 minutes to find my glasses which I thought was enough time to also be able to go back and get a look at what went wrong. Obviously there was a nest in a weird place and I had either stepped on it, pulled it, or gotten too close. 

There were still a dozen wasps flying around scouting for trouble and another dozen plus closer to the pile of the big weeds I had pulled earlier.

I couldn’t see a nest or anything else and decided to go back later that evening when they had calmed down.

Now it was time to check on the baby. He was sleeping soundly.

I said a quick “Thank you” to the Lord for only one sting, found glasses that weren’t broken and that I had been pulling weeds without the baby. I usually have him with me for that section since it is in the shade.

There are times when the Lord is very loud in the way He speaks to us and times when His voice is just a gentle tone waiting for us to come close and listen to what He has to say. 

How often have I just brushed off His voice, thinking I was being silly? Or like this day when I just wanted to finish a little bit more!

It happens when we wander.

It is so easy to get distracted and drift a little too far, just out of earshot.

“Lord, why is your voice so easy for me to override? Why isn’t it more clear?”

I saw a picture of a lost sheep in the middle of a canyon. He was grazing on small tufts of grass. His master was calling to him, but his voice was echoing in the canyon. When the sheep finally looked up to go to his master, he couldn’t figure out which direction the master’s voice was coming from. 

I allowed myself to wander. 

When we ignore the voice of the Lord too frequently, we can start to lose track of what He was asking us to do, or where He was calling us.

I had let fear and distraction and busyness and chores and everything else pull me deeper into the canyon.  One tuft of grass at a time, I went farther from the Lord until His voice became an echo I could no longer trace.

He did not abandon me or leave me unattended. I allowed myself to wander. 

He let me, because He is not controlling or manipulative. He waited for me and continued to call to me because He is a good father who loves us deeply.

When my husband went to take care of the weeds and wasps/hornets/yellow jacket things, he found something more impressive than a nest. 

He found a hole under the rocks in the rock wall. It was a ground nest. Probably yellow jackets. He said it must have been a decent size based on how many were coming and going. This wasn’t the impressive thing. 

Right in front of the last patch of weeds I was going to pull, about two feet above this ground nest, was an ice cube tray sized wasp nest in the wood that edged the top yard. 

I had been pulling weeds between a large wasp nest and a ground yellow jacket nest.

The sting was a gentle warning that saved me from a potential dozen stings or more. 

When the sheep wander too far, close to danger, the Shepherd will use the crook of his staff to pull them back to safety. It may not be comfortable, but it is preferable to injury or death.

I am thankful for a Father who calls to me gently, and protects me from going too far. 

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Lord, meet us here in this wandering canyon.  Forgive us for wandering a little too far, getting distracted by “just one more thing.” Show us the places in our lives where we have lifted anything up higher than spending time with you. Are there places we have allowed our own knowledge and pride to speak more loudly? Have we convinced ourselves that we know best what should be prioritized in our lives? Forgive us for this. Help us to learn what it looks like to walk with Your voice in our ears and Your priorities on our calendars. 

Help us to discern which trails lead us back to your voice, your pasture, and home. Teach these sheep to stay close to their Shepherd.

In Jesus Name, Amen