God's Whisper

"What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops." Matthew 10:27

"Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance." Psalm 42:5 NKJV

"The word of God at the ear is a whisper, at the mouth it is a shout." Preaching by Fred Craddock

What is all this talk about whispering and shouting?First, let us begin with the whispering. I realized something today in a bit of study. The rabbi's used to ask a question about the creation account in Genesis. What did God do before He spoke in Genesis 1:3? The natural conclusion would be that He was silent. I do not even pretend to understand the depth of this, but I think it can teach me something. When God speaks, things happen. His Word is powerful, transformational, creational. When God opens His mouth and His Word comes forth, it will bring men to their knees. But His word has power because of His silence. His silence is just as authoritative as His word. Can you imagine the agony of God's silence? It is difficult enough for us to find 1 minute of silence in our world today and not feel uncomfortable. But can you imagine the consuming agony of experiencing divine silence? I would venture to guess that it feels a lot like death. That when we perceive that God has been silent, we need to realize that there is death in that. What a scary and fearful thought that we would not be able to hear God.

And yet, we see from the scripture that when God speaks, we may not hear it because of our own loudness. Psalm 42 carefully uses the word disquieted. That sounds very old english, but break it down. The word literally can just mean LOUD! I can't hear God because I'm too LOUD! Unless we are still and quiet before God, we can not hear Him. If we are making too much noise with our lives, then we will not hear the whisper that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 10:27. This is also the paradox of the Gospel. Many are called, but few are chosen. Hearing they do not hear and seeing they do not see. God has spoken to us in His Son and yet there are so many who did not, do not, can not hear it. Why? Because they do not have ears to hear the voice of God in a simple whisper. We want the shouting of signs and wonders. We want Him to write it in the sky or send us a flashy email. We like our word from God in a shout and yet He gives it to us in parables. But the problem is not that God is not speaking up, the problem is that we can not hear. He has given enough word, enough signs, enough manifestation. We should not need any other thing than Jesus, the Word.

Now, here is the magnificent thing. Once we have heard that whisper of God, we then are told to shout it from the rooftops. Wait a second, I thought God spoke in whispers? No, God speaks in shouts, we hear in whispers. Remember when Jesus was in Jerusalem and the Father's voice thundered from heaven? Only Jesus understood the words. Remember when Paul was on the road to Damascus and there was a great flash of light and Jesus spoke to him? But only Paul, not his traveling companions, heard what Jesus said. When we preach the word we shout, not necessarily in form of course, the revelations of God to His people and to the world. We can do nothing about whether they hear the whisper of God in that or not. All I can do is to proclaim the truths of God and pray that one lonely, lost soul might hear the voice of the Good Shepherd in that. I plant seeds and hope that it finds good soil, knowing that most of it will be scattered on the path. I proclaim the gospel with all my might, hoping that they hear whatever it was Elijah heard in the cleft of that mountain. I shout from the rooftops, because I hope that somebody might hear what Jesus whispers:

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, 
calling for you and for me; 
see, on the portals he's waiting and watching, 
watching for you and for me. 

Why should we tary when Jesus is pleading, 
pleading for you and for me? 
Why should we linger and heed not his mercies, 
mercies for you and for me? 

Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing, 
passing from you and from me; 
shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming, 
coming for you and for me.  

O for the wonderful love he has promised, 
promised for you and for me! 
Though we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon, 
pardon for you and for me.