The Voice of Peace, Spoken in Love
Special Gratitude Edition
Our neighbor warned us, but it was still a bit of a shock when a crew of roofers showed up at dark-thirty a.m. and began scraping shingles from the roof of the house next door. The clatter of ladders being moved and the shouts above the ruckus to communicate from one side of the house to the other were the first verse.
The second verse began a couple of hours later as roofing felt was rolled out and then nailed in place. Lovely soundtrack to my morning.
After a short, quiet reprieve came the crescendo to it all - an afternoon filled with the repetitive “pop! pop! pop!” of the nail gun as each shingle was secured to the roof.
This past year, our area was the target of frequent weather events, and the roofs in our neighborhood were testament to the storms’ severity. Gutters battered, shingles blown down the block, leaks caused from damage inflicted by baseball-sized hailstones – insurance company reps probably dreaded taking calls from folks in our area because many of them were about to become proud owners of new roofs. And our next-door neighbor was one of those folks.
Once our dogs figured out that the roofers weren’t going anywhere anytime soon, they finally stopped barking and settled in as close to me as they could. I sat at my desk to begin my time with the Lord with two dogs cowering under my chair.
Talk about hard to concentrate! The din from the project next door was next level. The walls of our solidly built home seemed paper-thin.
Finally, I sighed and asked the Lord to help me focus on His Word. I sat for a couple of minutes with my eyes closed and my head bowed. Then I looked down at the Word and began to read again. The Holy Spirit drew me into the text as I journaled and prayed through the section of Scripture I was studying.
Minutes passed, half an hour, and suddenly I realized that the only thing I was hearing was the voice of God as He spoke to me through His Word. The commotion going on at my neighbor’s house had faded into the background, and I was lost in the peace of the presence of God.
I don’t have to tell you that there’s a lot of noise competing for your attention out there. Distractions can cause you to lose focus on what’s real, what’s important, and what’s best. Every soul is searching for peace, and the loudness of life can make that peace feel elusive.
But there’s one Voice Who prevails above the clamor. One Voice Who speaks truth, hope, and life. One Voice Whose words lead to peace, rest, and comfort. And that Voice is the voice of the God Who made you and Who knows that the noise of this world will wear you down.
So come to Him.
The more time you spend in His presence, the louder His voice will become and the more it will be the prevailing influence in your life. He wants you to know peace. He wants you to find rest. And He knows that you’ll only find them in Him.
Gracious Father, thank You for quieting the noise of the world around us. Thank You for tuning our ears to the beauty of Your song and for hushing the distractions of this world so that Your voice prevails above all others – the voice of Peace, spoken in love. Listening intently and thanking You joyfully in the beautiful Name of Jesus. Amen.
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“The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out…” – 1 Kings 19:11-13a
