. . .so David inquired of the Lord, and he answered, “Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees. [24] As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.” 2 Samuel 5:23-24 (NIV)
At many points in his life, David would stop and ask God for direction. You wouldn’t think that he would need to. God had called David out as a young man and told him that he would be king. God had given him incredible success. Maybe one of the keys was that David was in constant communication with his creator. He didn’t just get the orders and then go. He stopped and asked. His main concern was to know if God was going to go ahead of him. So David and God have this conversation. David wants to go in the direction of the Philistine army, but only if God directs it. In essence God tells David that not only will he go with David, he will go BEFORE David. Picture David, hiding in a forest area with his men, silent and waiting. Waiting for God to move. What was that waiting like? Was it long? Short? The wind begins to blow thru the top of the trees, and David knows. God is on the move. The spiritual has once again intersected the physical.
So here are you and I. Years later in a very different situation, but the very same God. We have a thousand different things we can do, a hundred different directions we can go. Our 1st reaction is to think through all the facts, sort it out, calculate the risks, and make a decision. Not so good. Maybe the thing God wants us to do is to ask him and . . . wait. It may be that he blows the wind of the Holy Spirit and leads out ahead of us in the direction that we should go. Maybe instead of mentally calculating all the risks, we should listen for the wind. It will lead to places that we have never been, on a journey filled with more that we ever dreamed. So pray. Lean in. Listen well. Be silent. Watch the leaves. They are starting to move. Are you ready to follow?