28
Jun
In the middle of the year, for the last 5 years, I’ve featured “Joy to the Soul Summer!”
If this is your first time joining me for the series, welcome! If you’re a regular reader, you know each summer has a new theme. This year it is “5 Truths Summer Whispers to the Soul.”
The theme’s inspiration came from my prayer walks. God’s presence is constant in and around our lives, regardless of the weather. On chilly mornings or when warmth awaits me outside my front door, His grace offers the same invitation, “Come. Be with God.” However you choose to spend time with Him, I pray you hear His invitation too.
And yet, in the busyness or burdens of life, we may only hear the noise of what creates pressure or causes questions. And yet, while God speaks to us in many ways, stillness is required to hear a whisper.
One example from Scripture, is found in 1 Kings 19:1-18. When the Old Testament prophet, Elijah, was fearful and unsure, he had an encounter with God. He could have spoken through what came whirling, shaking, or burning around Elijah. But instead, God whispered.
Imagine the calm that came to Elijah, through the soft voice of the Sovereign. He offers the same calm to you and me. As we think about this summer, we may be open to meeting new people and seeing new places. Perhaps, some yearn for peace in the midst of a storm more than a vacation rental on the beach.
And yet, we’re each invited to lean in and wait for the Whisper. It is the gentle impression on the heart of the ways and will of God.
With summer’s humid days and often breezy nights, the warmest season reminds us things don’t always stay the same. It’s the first whisper of truth I hear.
Concerning the weather in his day, the psalmist wrote these words about God’s power.
“He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow. He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel” (Psalm 147:18-19 NIV).
Even if life feels frozen in what’s difficult, the word of God can melt what our best efforts can’t move. May we feel His comfort in the warmth of the sun. Yet, even as God reveals His word, may it melt our hearts too.
Whatever change looks like for you this summer, joy comes to the soul as we rest in the assurances of God.
His love is unfailing. His plan is unyielding. He stirs up His breezes and the waters flow. So yes, things don’t always stay the same. But we can lean in and hear the Whisper. For no matter what season we’re in, we can get to know the God who made the seasons.
REFLECTION OR DISCUSSION: As you make plans for the summer (or wait to see what unfolds), what do you imagine God saying to you in a whisper?
Meet me here each week for more “Joy to the Soul Summer” reflections. Invite your friends to join you! The discussion question at the end of each post may be used for a journal prompt or group discussion.
Read more “Joy to the Soul Summer” posts here.
Lucille
Joy, this is an interesting take on the summer weather.
It calls to memory what I experienced last weekend when I went to the mall with some people. Ever since the gyms closed during the pandemic, they usually go on walks inside and I stay outside in the SUV. But this time, the sun was so hot that it burned my chest and arm and thigh through the window, even through my clothes. Never burned like that before, so I didn’t understand, what was going on. It brought to mind Revelation 16, where it reads “…And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat…” That’s how it felt, but I didn’t blaspheme and I had no sin to repent of, either. In that same passage, as hot as the sun will be, it will have no influence on the hail that is “about the weight of a talent.” Maybe they will occur at the same time or there is an interval so that man can repent.
Yes, the weather does change, according to God’s instructions and dictates, according to what He wants to do, even if He wants to whisper in the ear, which is what I would have preferred that Saturday.
Joy
Hi Lucille, I hope you got some relief from the heat that day! And yes, God’s whispers are definitely preferred over the severity of any situation.