Listen for the Sound
Monday, August 22
Listen for the Sound
When you hear a sound like marching feet in the tops of the poplar trees, go out and attack! That will be the signal that God is moving ahead of you to strike down the Philistine army.” 1Chronicles 14:15
David is called a man after God’s own heart because he demonstrated his faith and was committed to following the Lord. From his days of shepherding when he defended his earthly fathers’ cattle to his battle with Goliath, David demonstrated faith. David completely trusting the Lord for the way forward and this has always been an inspiration to me. In today’s verse I picture David with his men, having to decide on the battle plan against the enemy. I picture horses neighing and stomping around, men discussing options and preparing their army gear, as they were awaiting orders – the atmosphere must’ve been quite tense. Yet during all this, I picture David finding a quiet spot, taking a moment to listen for the Lord’s voice. In response to David’s surrender (giving the battle over to God), the Lord subsequently gave them victory once again.
What strikes me the most is that the Lord told David to listen for the sound of marching in the poplar trees. That is David needed to tune out all that was going on around him in order to listen for the ‘rustling’ in the treetops. It made me wonder how quiet and focused David had to be in himself in order to hear that sound in the treetops. If he had allowed fear and doubt in, he probably would not have been able to follow the Lord’s instructions.
Today, God is calling us to this peaceful quiet place. A place where we refuse to listen to the chaos around us and instead listen for the sound of God.