Listen

While he was still speaking, look, a bright cloud overshadowed them. A voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son whom I dearly love. I am very pleased with him. Listen to him!” Hearing this, the disciples fell on their faces, filled with awe.

Matthew 17:5-6

Think

What would you do if the voice of the holy God suddenly interrupted your worship service? What would you feel if you suddenly couldn’t see anything other than the glory of God reflecting off the clouds that surrounded you? What would you think? How would you react? Matthew invites us into this scene by saying: “look!”

Jesus’s three friends fall on their faces — continuing their worship, but realizing that there’s more they need to understand about the God they are worshiping.

Most of us don’t hear God’s voice regularly or find ourselves overshadowed by clouds of glory. But we are invited to worship regularly, and we’re invited to listen to the God who speaks through creation, through the Bible, and through the people God puts in our paths.

Thinking about how we might react to a dramatic encounter with God like the disciples experienced in this story reminds us to pay attention to the quieter, more everyday encounters we have with God and to the things God might be trying to say to us.

Rebecca Poe Hays

Pray

Holy and glorious God, thank you for speaking to me.

Please help me to listen to you.

Amen.

Go

Your genuine faith will result in praise, glory, and honor for you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you’ve never seen him, you love him. Even though you don’t see him now, you trust him and so rejoice with a glorious joy that is too much for words.

1 Peter 1:7b-8