Stop for a moment. Stop reading even and listen. Just give it 30 seconds.

I did and heard the low sounds of the television. The World Cup was on and my husband was catching up on highlights. I heard the occasional call of a nearby bird and the song of one a little further off. I also heard the drumming in my ears as the blood flows through. It’s a gentle hum, the underlying purr of the motor of my life.

What do you hear?

It’s good to be quiet.

It’s good to train our ears to listen.

Remember Elijah? God told him in 1Kings 19:11 to go out and stand on the mountain for “the presence of the LORD is about to pass by”. Elijah did as he was told attentive both to the LORD’s command and His soon coming. First came a great and powerful wind that tore the mountain apart and shattered rocks. The presence of God was not in the wind. Then came an earthquake but God was not in the earthquake. Then came a fire but God was not in the fire.

The presence of God was not in these loud; grab your attention mighty acts.

It was in what came next: Then came a gentle whisper. It was the LORD.

God whispers still today. Very rarely does He shout at us. His Word may strike us like a lightening bolt but His invitations for us to come closer to His heart come to us when we stop our running, disengage from the frenetic pace of the world, turn down the volume of our lives and quiet ourselves to listen for His voice.

It is there. He is there. He is here. And He is constantly, quietly inviting us to come closer. “Come to Me all you who are weary and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28) He speaks His love. We do not need to fear rejection. He will not and does not reject us. He accepts us. He wants us. He pursues. He invites. He calls. Be beckons. He says, “You are welcome here.”

Today He is coming for me through John Chapter One and the intermittent call of songbirds.

I love you, He says. He says it in the stillness and the quiet inside. He says it in a gentle whisper. Hear Him?