You know a lot of people like to go to attractions where famous people have been. Visit the Hollywood Walk of Stars. Sleep where George Washington slept. Follow the Chissolm Trail. Head out on the Road to Emmaus. Walk the Via Dolorosa.
The beach has a main attraction too, and that’s why we visit – the ocean. An incredible roaring expanse of water that covers thousands of miles and carries water from another coast right to the tip of our toes. It is quite a sight to see. It was created on the third day, by the way.
And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear. And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called the “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:9-10
But, the waters were there from the very beginning. Chew on that.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Genesis 1:1-2
Did you see that? Over the waters. What was over the waters? The Spirit of God. Take just a minute and process that. The Trinity. This is what makes the beach the main attraction. It’s where land and water meet. Where the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters, from the very beginning. It’s kind of cool to think about when you look at the ocean. The Spirit of God hovered over the ocean. Doesn’t that alone make it a tourist attraction? Anyway.
If you’ve ever been to the beach, you know how loud, how vast, how constant the ocean sounds. It’s so loud you can hear it behind closed doors. In fact, it is so powerful a presence that you think you can hear it when you can’t. Ever put a conch shell to ear? Folks find this sound so relaxing, so calming, that they make wave machines to help put you to sleep – no kidding.
As we were heading out one day, I remarked that it was awfully noisy at the beach and I wasn’t talking about the ocean. Folks were yelling, music blaring, mowers were mowing, construction was happening, equipment was beeping, leaf blowers (sand blowers) blowing, car alarms alarming, trucks were trucking, sprinkler systems sprinkling, dumpster dumping. It just seemed so strange to me that the most calming sound, one of the reasons everyone was there, was being drowned out, kind of assaulted by the noises of life. Yet, if you strained your ear, you could hear the whisper of waves, the steady unceasing voice of the ocean, God’s Spirit hovering.
Isn’t this just like our daily lives? Because we are His, the Sweet Spirit of God is living in us. It is bold, vast, loud, constant, kind of like the ocean. But, just like the beach noises drown out the ocean, or make it harder to hear, our life noises do the same thing. Doesn’t mean it’s not there. The Spirit of God is always hovering. Just means we don’t hear it.
Just as the waves lap at the shore, God’s Spirit is moving, calling, talking, beckoning, constantly. Can we hear him?
…and you will hear a voice say, “This is the way; turn around and walk here.”
Isaiah 30:21
I bet my bottom dollar that He has spoken those words to me so very often and because of the din of my life, I can’t hear Him. I can hear everything, but what I need to hear. He reminds us…
Be sure to pay attention to what you need to hear. The more you do this, the more you will understand – and even more besides. To those who are open to my teaching more understanding will be given. But to those who are not listening, even what they have will be taken away from them.
Mark 4:24-25
Pay attention to what you need to hear. His words always sum it up so clearly. What do we need to hear? His Voice. What happens if we do. We gain more understanding. What happens if we don’t? We lose what little understanding we have. When the waves of life are making too much noise. We need to pay closer attention.