God’s advice always comes at a time when we need to hear it most. Often, when God does send his advice, we are often dismissive of it because surely the Lord would not choose some casual, normal way to relay His words of encouragement to us. Although we are familiar with the scripture, And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice (1 Kings 19:11-12). Elijah had become discouraged and felt that he was the only one going through such a trial as his at the time. At a time when he desired to hear from the Lord, the Lord called him to stand in a cave in a valley – and it was there that God used a small, still voice to communicate with His prophet.
Just like Elijah, often when we need to hear from the Lord we don’t expect the small, still voice or the use of common things that God will use to commune with us. We want to hear the big thundering voice proclaiming we are right, how we have been wronged, or even how we have pleased Him. We overlook the small messages of encouragement and instruction that God gives us simply because we overlook the common things. About two weeks ago, I had a daddy-daughter date with my four-year old. As is our normal tradition, I let her choose the restaurant and we ended up at a local establishment, The China Buffet, which happens to be her favorite. After we finished eating, the waitress brought out the bill and two fortune cookies.
My daughter, the self-proclaimed fortune cookie passer-outer, gave me one with her enthusiastic smile and “Daddy, here you go!” I opened my fortune cookie and instead of the traditional message offering some obscure advice, this was in my cookie: “No matter what your past has been, you have a spotless future.” I am not by any means saying that God uses every fortune cookie to give His children encouragement, but this fortune cookie had a message that God wanted me to remember. I often struggle with what I had done in the past as any regular reader of this blog knows and on this particular day, had already been struggling with Satan. This fortune cookie was God’s subtle way of reminding me of His saving grace. God was reminding me of this simple truth: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). God chose to use a common item at hand to remind me of His enduring love for me. As my daughter continued to eat her cookie, I sat in amazement at how God was able to send me a word of encouragement through a fortune cookie.
It is easy for us to overlook the many ways that God sends us messages of teaching and encouragement. Have you ever been driving down the road and all of a sudden a hymn, a gospel song, or even a contemporary Christian song will pop into your mind? Maybe you’ve been at work and you read something that causes you to remember a particular sermon you heard a long time ago. I’ve even had times when I have been preparing lectures in my world civilization course and suddenly I will remember a passage of scripture that accurately describes exactly what happened from God’s perspective. Ever sit out and watch the power of a passing storm, or listen to the birds sing, or even watch a butterfly land on a flower? Each of these can and often are used by the Lord as a way to teach us and encourage us.
I wonder how many times in my past I’ve missed God’s advice simply because I didn’t realize what was happening. It’s extremely easy to become distracted by just having a busy schedule. We live in an era where we are constantly bombarded with things to do, and because of the prevalence of personal electronic devices, I believe our senses have become numb because of the over-stimulation that happens. It become easy to miss the smaller details and the common things the Lord uses to comfort and teach us. While I am sure there is no one sure-fire way not to miss these moments, for myself, it has become important enough for me to slow down and set aside time each day to simply sit back and listen for the still, small voice.
And in case you’re wondering, I kept the fortune from that fortune cookie and taped it to my laptop as a reminder to look for those small things that are used by the Lord to comfort, teach, and advise me.
