The Voice of Mercy
It’s mid-morning quiet, not to be confused with early morning quiet, in the gray writing room of the redhead assisted by Asher, her snaggle toothed cat. The feline supervisor of the bright gray room rolls his round green eyes from the top of the wooden desk as Plucky, the eternal kitten, plays noisily on the wood floor with her jingle belled cat ball.
The distracted writer, now home from the hot sandy beach, finds her mind continues to linger in her colorful beach chair with her feet buried in the cool damp, sand. The soft tick and tock of the teal-colored clock breaks the preoccupied woman’s thoughts of brown and white hamsters riding smooth waves on tiny brightly colored surfboards of oranges, reds and yellows. Last week’s beach bum takes a large gulp of her black coffee, closes her green eyes and deeply breathes in and out whispering, “Jesus, help!”
It is hard to articulate the feelings of the smallness of self when standing on the hot sands of the ocean shore, squinting hard to focus on an ever moving and endless sea. The water and skies collide into a kaleidoscope of brilliant blues, grays, and whites.
Deep thoughts swim through our minds like graceful hamsters riding the waves until they catch a new wave of thought or crash and burn into peace, regret, or a strangled mingling of both. Thoughts of God, and His abundance of mercy, resonate in the heart of the silent woman hypnotized by the sight and sounds of large gulfs of water rolling and crashing repeatedly onto the sandy brown shore.
As a card-carrying member of the N.R.A. or National Redhead Association her impatience and anger have exploded into more costly mistakes than all five oceans combined could ever hold. Tears of deep remorse and regret form and are held in her squinching green eyes because she realizes how often she has hurt God’s heart simply by her inattention of His voice speaking personally to her, or even God’s existence at all.
Elijah, a great prophet of old, won a major victory with the help of our Almighty God. Immediately after his great victory, the same prophet holed up in a cave depressed and frightened by an evil queen’s death threats. The Word of the Lord came to the prophet in hiding in a dark cave.
GO OUT AND STAND ON THE MOUNTAIN BEFORE THE LORD. THE LORD PASSED BY AND A GREAT STRONG WIND TORE INTO THE MOUNTAINS AND BROKE THE ROCKS IN PIECES BEFORE THE LORD, BUT THE LORD WAS NOT IN THE WIND. AFTER THE WIND, AN EARTHQUAKE BUT THE LORD WAS NOT IN THE EARTHQUAKE. AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE, A FIRE BUT THE LORD WAS NOT IN THE FIRE, AND AFTER THE FIRE, A SMALL STILL VOICE. 1KINGS 19:11-12
You don’t have to be an impatient, quick tempered, stubborn redhead to need to hear the merciful voice of God. Every one of us need and even experience God’s mercy even when we are too distracted to recognize it. We all need to hear the small still voice of God every day, not only when we are in the midst of making an important decision, or going down for the last time in a tsunami. The fact that the Lord hears and speaks to us at all, even in the valleys of the shadows of death, real or imagined is an act of Jesus great mercy.
Are you willing to accept the mercy the Lord is pouring out on you by listening for and obeying the small still voice of the Holy Spirit?
This week’s redhead challenge is this: Accept the mercy of God. Turn off the noise in your life. You don’t have to go to the beach or hide away in a cave to turn off Tiktok and Facebook, or to silence your phone, radio, computer, television, and any unnecessary noise that distracts you from listening for the small still voice of the Holy Spirit. Ask the Lord to speak words of clarity, direction and truth into your heart and mind. Ask the Lord to help you hear and discern His quiet yet powerful voice. Be still and listen until the Lord to speaks to you. Rest in the presence of the Lord and obey any instructions He so mercifully gives. Do not give in to the talented surfing hamsters trying to distract and dissuade you from excelling at your challenge. God’s mercy and God’s voice is bigger than the oceans of blue. Are you willing to accept God’s mercy as He speaks to you personally this week?
Feel free to comment or share your results from this week’s redhead challenge.
Sarah Burnette 8-10-22