I’m a firm believer that when you don’t train yourself to sit with Holy Spirit and practice listening for His voice when things are small or easy, you won’t hear His voice when it’s hard or when the decision is one of high stakes. But maybe you do that. Maybe you’ve practiced and have been intentional and then suddenly you find yourself in doubt or defiance.

First, I want to circle back to the idea that God cares about the little things. He cares about you praying when you’ve lost your keys. He cares when a kid prays over their paper cut or scraped knee. He cares when YOU pray over your paper cut or scraped knee. He cares when we are making the decision on where and when to vacation. The little things hold no less weight in the eyes of our Father. When I first started coming back to God, I read a book that taught me to talk to myself first. When I would pray, I would (in my head) say things like “This is EM’s voice. This is what my thoughts and opinions sound like. Today is Friday. Bananas are yellow. It is a bit cloudy today.” Then I’d praise God for who He is and recognize the power He has and the reverence I should have. I’d thank Him for the blessings we have and then I’d pray for others and myself. I’d try on the answers “yes, you want me to go to the park today? No, You want me to stay home?” until I found confidence and peace in the voice I was listening to. If you get in the habit of doing this when the stress is low, you will have greater confidence when stress is high. For things like changing jobs or moving houses, etc.

But what happens when we know the voice and we run anyways?

A whale comes.

Go read the story of Jonah. A prophet is told to go preach the lost city of Nineveh and instead of going, he runs as far as he can via boat… in the opposite direction. Eventually, he gets swallowed by a whale “or great fish” where he is trapped there for 3 days and 3 nights (sound familiar?). After repentance for disobedience, he gets spit out on dry land. Now this is a spark notes styled summary so please go read it because there’s lots there to unpack.

A friend sent me a post and it posed the simple question of “what do you think your whale is going to be”. God may know what choice we are going to make, but we are given free will. We can walk in obedience or walk in defiance. There’s no in-between. I have some major things coming up and I’ve been wrestling with “is this God calling for change or my heart of discontentment.” Which…What fruits are present with each choice? That’s identifier number one. But yet I find myself saying “this would be easier or this would make more sense for us.

See, I think we over-complicate things. We search for easier. I know that whatever choice we make, God will use it. I may have consequences, but it will be good when it’s in His hands. But I also think we too often know the choice we are supposed to choose and yet we still choose to not move. The whale was obvious. It was big and it swooped up and swallowed Jonah. It physically moved him and offered time for reflection and an opportunity for repentance. Then it carried him to where he was supposed to be the whole time. See, the whale brought suffering. I don’t know about you, but sitting in the belly of a giant fish for three days sounds sticky and stinky and uncomfortable. I don’t want to even think about the food options. We may choose to obey or disobey but we can’t choose the whale. Jonah had a hard heart that did not want to go for selfish reasons. But really, our reasonings for wrestling can be quite selfish too. Delayed obedience is disobedience and when we know the right choice and don’t do it, we might as well be saying “no”.

You get to choose what you do next, but be prepared that you might get a whale when you walk in the other direction of what God is calling you to…

Under The Sun.