There was a TV commercial in the 1970s and 80s advertising a financial brokerage firm. In one version, two gentlemen were in an airport terminal, a multitude of people milling around them, so much commotion and noise it is hard to hear what anyone is saying, until…
One man asks the other if he had heard of the advice his broker gave him. The other starts his reply with, “My broker, EF Hutton, says.”
In the next second, the entire crowd halts, everyone is still as a statue waiting to hear what the sage EF Hutton has to say.
A deep, assured voice from an unseen place fills the terminal as he interjects, “When EF Hutton speaks, people listen.”
During the two decades this commercial aired, we always saw two men in different crowded scenarios saying the same thing. No matter where they were, when the name EF Hutton was spoken, the people around them stopped and leaned in to hear what would be said.
Do we stop and listen when God speaks? Are we still and silent as statues, leaving our busyness, to grasp every word? Or, do we abandon the Lord for the sake of duties, plans and dreams?
The last time I put God on the back burner to handle all the tasks in front of me, life spiraled. Nothing was going right, I was exhausted and pretty cranky. Thankfully, I broke free, took a dose of humility, and confided in a sister in Christ.
God spoke to me through this person. Instantly, I knew I had taken my eyes and ears off Him and was unfocused, operating in the flesh, attempting to keep all the balls in the air myself. So subtle had the movement been, I falsely believed that I was still surrendered to the Lord and He was not speaking. For the next week, the message was confirmed.
First, I heard a lovely woman’s testimony about losing her ability to use her artistic talent until she realized she had been taking the credit for it. Unaware until she listened to the Lord, she asserted that as soon as she realized and acknowledged where her gifts come from, her abilities returned.
Luke 22:27 came to me next, “For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.”
As these words of Jesus quietly resonated in me, they were confirmation. I am not the one on the throne!
In 1 Chronicles 22, God tells David that he will not fulfill his dream of building a temple for Him. He lets him to continue gathering the materials, but his son Solomon will take over after he’s gone and be the one to do the building.
David’s plan to build a tabernacle for the Lord was not the Lord’s plan for him. Scripture tells us that even though David was a mighty warrior and king on this earth he chose to surrender to the King of Kings and do all he could to set Solomon up for the task.
When all his preparations were complete and David had instructed Solomon, his last piece of advice was.
Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Therefore arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy articles of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the Lord.” I Chronicles 22:19.
Lord, thank you for your Word that comes forth every time we need it. May we learn to remain tuned in to hear You in the unexpected places and through the unexpected people. Whatever task you give or refuse us, let us remember where our breath of life comes from, and surrender to you.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2 ESV.
Janice Simpson