If Today You Hear His Voice, Harden Not Your Heart

Yesterday, Sunday, my early morning anxiety around preparing to take my music ministry on the road - to Windemere in the morning and Long Hill in the afternoon - was manifesting itself as negative thinking: Who do you think you are? You're nothing. You stink. You're not prepared. You're a lousy musician. Look at you, packing up all this gear, all these hymnals, spending hours pouring over Bible readings and songs; you're not worthy to do this job. Nobody cares. Really - who do you think you are?

As I wandered from room to room, gathering my guitar, music stand, box of hymnals, and sound system, all while the negative, self-deprecatory thinking continued, I passed through the dining room and my eyes fell on the digital read-out of my humidifier: 23 (23%relative humidity - an important number for the room in which I store my guitars and fiddle). In the semi-dark of my dining room, the luminous number jumped out at me, like a neon light, and immediately, the words of Psalm 23 - The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want; he leads me beside the still waters;...yea though I walk through the valley...I shall fear no evil - replaced the negativity.

My preparations for this ministry, the launch pad I use for choosing music for the week is the psalm of the day. This week's psalm refrain was from Psalm 95: "If today you hear his voice,harden not your hearts," and the question on my mind and the question I was planning to ask my "congregations" was, "Where do we hear God's voice?"

I believe that God's voice is quite distinguishable. It's the voice that guides us to right action, to reconciliation, to healing, to affirming and ministering to the weak; the voice of positivity; light in the midst of darkness. Sometimes God's voice is subtle, barely audible. Yesterday, God spoke to me clearly and distinctly. Through the digital readout on my humidifier. And yes, the day's music went very well.