Echoes
“And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.” Luke 10:39
We have a nest of baby blue jays just a few inches from a large window in my home. The bushes there are tall and dense if you are walking by on the outside, but we have the inside view.
There are three babies in the nest. If you’ve never seen a baby bird up close, let me tell you just how ungainly they are. Tiny, bare bodies, large heads with bulging eyes, and beaks that are inordinately oversized compared to their small frames, make them downright ugly.
They have begun to stand on the edge of the nest now, flapping their wings for all they are worth, but never going anywhere. I continually look at the ground below to see if one has fallen out. They are big enough now that there is only room for one bird inside the nest, so they tend to stand on top of one another.
Of course, the mommy and daddy have been bringing food all these weeks. They digest it to some degree before depositing it into those gaping beaks that create an unmissable target. At some point of maturity, those babies will be on the ground searching for their own food.
This whole baby bird process reminds me of eating only pre-digested food from the Lord. Before I say anything more, let me state outright that we need to hear teaching from godly men and women. We need to hear their stories of God’s faithfulness and mercy. This has always been the case for the human race.
But at some point, we should also be hearing God’s voice for ourselves. What we read from a Christian author is but an echo of what God has spoken to him. What we hear from a pastor is secondhand information. The Lord spoke to one person, who digested that meal, then sent it our way. The Word of the Lord can and should come to us through others in this manner, but it is still an echo. A repeat.
I want to receive firsthand the Lord’s own words to me, for He has given me spiritual ears to hear. I want to sit at His feet, as Mary did, and look Him in the face and hear His voice. I’m ready to take in the strong meat—ready to chew on it, meditate on it, and make it my own.
We will hear echoes often, but at some point we should hear the original speaking Voice. Echoes replay only partial messages and are usually a bit muffled, even difficult or impossible to interpret. Original speaking voices are clear and personal. If God’s voice seems muddled to you, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into all knowledge, to make the words clear, to teach you in a way you can understand. This, He longs to do.
Lord, I thank You for speaking to us directly. We do not need an interpreter. We desire Your own voice and not only an echo, pre-digested to make it easier for us. Give us ears to hear what You say. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
*Author’s Note: If you did not read this carefully, you might come away with the idea I am saying we don’t need pastors and teachers in our lives. This is not true; these men and women are appointed and anointed by God, and gifted with spiritual gifts. We do need them. But we also need to sit at the Lord’s feet and learn from Him ourselves.
Perfect analogy….baby birds depending on the food given to them by their mother and/or father, or both; and then out of the nest to search for their own nourishment. Our children depend on what we teach them, and then, out of the nest, they search for themselves. Oftentimes, this is the hardest part in being a parent, allowing them to learn to fly and survive on their own, praying that what they are being given, is ‘food from above’, and that they have discernment between what is ‘Truth’ and what is not.
God Bless You All. Thank you for this message.
Thank you. I understood in the way the Lord led you to write. It made sense and sunk in!