Listen

Doesn’t Wisdom cry out and Understanding shout? Atop the heights along the path, at the crossroads she takes her stand. By the gate before the city, at the entrances she shouts:

I cry out to you, people; my voice goes out to all of humanity.

Proverbs 8:1-4

Think

How do you picture God’s Holy Spirit? I bet you don’t imagine the form of a woman standing at a busy intersection shouting to the people and cars that pass by. But that’s the kind of picture that today’s passage paints. It’s a picture of a strong woman demanding your attention; she has something important to say to you. Are you listening?

If your world is anything like mine, it is crowded, busy, and noisy. Screens and phones and tablets continually beg for my attention, not to mention the flesh-and-blood people who deserve my focus. How am I supposed to hear God through all the distractions? C.S. Lewis once wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is [God’s] megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

God is always speaking, but we aren’t always listening. Whether you are feeling great or struggling with some great burden, take time to ask, “What is God trying to say to me today?”

Jeff Gibelius

Pray

Thank you, Spirit of Wisdom, for calling out to me. Please get my attention. Do whatever it takes to tune me into your voice of warning, encouragement, and challenge. I want to walk with you today. Amen.

Go

God’s Spirit is with you right now, closer than the air you are breathing. You don’t have to chase after God; simply be with God today. Let God’s Spirit fill you and guide you. Take joy in knowing that God is walking with you, and that you can walk in God’s Spirit.