I'm generally not one to over-spiritualize things, but it certainly seems as though God has been talking to me the last couple of days. Or maybe I've just been listening more...

Yesterday it was Isaiah 43 that wouldn't get out of my mind. It was ricocheting around in there like an angry bee until I went and looked up the passage and read it. Turns out it was something that I needed to hear, and more importantly, later that day, it became something a close friend of mine needed to hear as well - perhaps even more than I did.

Today, it was this passage:

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour..." 1 Peter 5:8

The thing that's ringing like a bell, though, is not the usual focus of that passage - to be vigilant, or that Satan wants to "devour" anyone he can. No, the thing that is shining through the fog in my head this morning is his modus operandi - his tactics, and what specifically those tactics are intended to accomplish.

It's fairly straight forward. For the sake of the illustration, imagine a lion sitting right in front of you, roaring in your face. I can guarantee two things: One, you would be flustered at best, probably even panicked - unable to think clearly, and two, you would have a very hard time hearing anything else over the racket.

Since you've made it this far in my ramblings, I'm going to ask you to consider another passage (one of my all-time favorites) that was in my head yesterday - 1 Kings 19:11-13:


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 and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"


A Gentle Whisper. What are the chances I would hear a gentle whisper if my focus is on a lion roaring in my face? Slim. But what if that gentle whisper is telling me a greater truth - that I have nothing to fear because I belong to One far greater, and that further, if I stand my ground in faith, the lion will actually retreat?

God is the author of all truth, and Satan does no want us to hear any of it. His whole goal is to separate us from God, and keep us from hearing, much less believing, anything God has to say.

I've been letting the roaring in my face - from the world, from my worries, from my fears, perhaps even my desires - be my focus far too much lately. I need to make more of an effort to listen to the Gentle Whisper.