Showing posts with label Listen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Listen. Show all posts

Wednesday, 13 January 2016

The roar of the waterfall

I

Psalm 42

As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
    ‘Where is your God?’
These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng.

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Saviour and my God.

My soul is downcast within me;
    therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
    the heights of Hermon – from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.

By day the Lord directs his love,
    at night his song is with me –
    a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God my Rock,
    ‘Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
    oppressed by the enemy?’
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
    as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
    ‘Where is your God?’

11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Saviour and my God.

(NIV 2011) 

There is something about the sound of water, whether it be the roar of a waterfall, a babbling brook or the waves crashing against the shore. I have been drawn to the sounds of God's creation of late, the sounds that can be so easily passed over. In the quietness of the morning the pitter patter of rain on the window pane seems to sing a different song than it does when you are running for the car on a wet afternoon. On mornings where it hasn't been raining, they have been few and far between of late in the UK, the dawn chorus breaks through the stillness as the darkness as night turns to day. A different song is sung again by the wind at night as it rustles through the trees and whistles through the valleys. Each song is beautiful in its own right. Each has its own mood as every song has, although perhaps the song we hear depends on our own mood? God speaks loud and clear in so many ways through creation and it's many songs. God continues to speak to us, and reassure us even when we fail to stop and listen. He speaks through the songs of creation even when we sleep.

Friday, 24 July 2015

What do you hear? What do you see?



Shhhuuuu listen.... what do you hear?

This morning there is the quiet pitter patter of rain drops breaking into the quiet. How often do we actually stop and listen properly? How often do we actually stop? The world is a busy and demanding place. We live amongst the noise. How can we expect to hear God unless we stop and listen? I am always blown away by the way he communicates. It is so easy to miss him if we are not careful. Is God in the rain? Now there's a question.


Wait, look.... what do you see?

I have been on holiday this last week and have had fun visiting different places and taking a few crazy photos, as you do. I have also been amazed at spotting both a kestrel and a peregrine falcon out in the wild (well I think that's what they were), oh... and a number of wild rabbits. Got to keep that food chain going. On a slightly different note, we also have a frog living in our shed, either that or my husband needs his eyes testing! I have no idea what he is doing there as we have no fish pond nearby. The frog, that is, not my husband.


What I hear and what I see often draw me to the scriptures. These are the verses that God has encouraged me with as a result of stopping to look and listen.  May you to hear the gentle whisper of God and see signs of Him as He encourages you on your journey.


The Lord appears to Elijah 1 Kings 19:9-12

And the word of the Lord came to him: ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’
10 He replied, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.’
11 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. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 
 

Isaiah 40:31

31 But those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.


 

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

Do you hear her?




The truth speaks
do you hear her voice?
She whispers in creation
and calls you by name
repeatedly she beckons.

Do you hear her?

Echoes through the ages
dancing through the moonlight
mirrored in the stars
directing all who listen
loud and clear she calls.

Do you hear her?

Will you surrender to the call
will you stand up 
be accountable 
and stop the lies
the cover up?

Do you hear her?
Will you answer her call?


©revdjo 11/5/14 



Tuesday, 22 April 2014

I listen

I listen 
in the dead of night
silence beckons
anxiety wains 
in moonlight dances.

I listen
at the break of dawn
choruses singing
revelation heard
as creation blooms.

I listen 
stark choices
reality biting
faith grows 
in daytime choices.

I listen
your voice 
exposed.

©Revdjo 22/4/14