Echo

Read |Psalm 62|

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God has spoken once; I have heard this twice:
strength belongs to God, and faithful love belongs to you, Lord. (Psalm 62:11, CSB).

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My mother could have a part-time job as a tour guide if she wanted to. She knows the corners and inroads of my island-nation, Jamaica, better than anyone I've met, being able to recount the histories of both human-made and naturally occurring structures with ease and flair. She loves our island home and it oozes in her eagerness to share its beautiful secrets with others. One of her favorite routes to take on our travels to the North Coast is via a tunnel, in which the conditions are always ripe for a resounding echo. As we travel, she slows and toots her horn and, in what seems like a fraction of a second later, we are enveloped in a cocoon of sound. It's the echo. It still dazzles.

This morning as I had my quiet time, I found myself drawn to the eleventh verse of the sixty-second Psalm. God speaks once, and yet it is heard twice. The eleventh verse is speaking of an echo. The authoritative voice of God, seated in heaven, speaks. His speech vibrates the air to produce a sound distinct in all the earth. A sound not destined for the dust of the ground, but purposed to reverberate in the hearts of His children. 

But, an echo has prerequisite conditions. The surface against which the sound bounces must be a certain position and distance with respect to the point of origin. For the child of God, this ideal position is submitted to the authority of God seated in heaven. In this position the child of God displays a trusting and believing heart by walking faithfully in agreement with His Word by His Spirit. And by keeping this position of submission, the child of God maintains the right distance-she abides in Him, being where He is, even as He is where she is.

Further required, is the absence of objects that would absorb the sound, which would otherwise be echoed. The child of God must make room for God's Word in her heart. No provision must be made for what is unlike Him. She must draw near to Him always, and flee from the enemy always. She must entertain no idols-nothing that pretends to do the work of God or be God. She must be filled with God alone. She must put her trust in God alone.

And when those conditions are met she will have the experience of being enveloped in the cocoon of His promises reverberating in her heart. Only then, will she be able to hear the good report and come to belief that emboldens her to open her mouth and declare now, what God has already established in heaven and will soon make sight on earth. Only then, will she be encouraged and have her hope renewed, for He will apply His strength to perform His Word. And herein lies our rest: God is with us and is acting on our behalf.

Go Deeper
1. Daily obedience is the key to right positioning. We obey when we believe He is who He says He is and we are who He says we are. Make daily scripture reading and meditation a part of your life. If you know, you have not yet come to the conviction that, " All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work," pray for God to shape your heart into a heart that will submit to His understanding and not your own. (2 Timothy 3:16 - 17, CSB and Proverbs 3: 5 - 6). Pray that any unconfessed sin or shame that might make you afraid of embracing the full counsel of scripture, might be made apparent to you for the purposes of repentance and then rest in His perfect work. (John 19:30).

2. Live in light of the truth you know NOW.  Be faithful with the little, and He will entrust you with much. (Matthew 25:23).

3. Praise God. Speak well of Him. Sing well of Him. Dance in honor of Him. Play in awe of Him. Praise God. In doing so, you magnify Him above everything else-and that's where He actually is! Do it as often as you have breath in your lungs. Magnify Him, and you will see your heart will come to align more and more with His. You will see that you will come to live in the reverb. You will come to live in the echo. And what He speaks, more than anything, is of His undying love for you.

Enjoy this song from Elevation Worship, Echo: