Just Whistle

When we were kids, the area surrounding our home was still undeveloped; in fact my parent’s home was one of the first to be built as the area went from farmland to a suburb. Because of it, we had large fields to play football and baseball in and woods to explore. Across the street from our house was a pond on which we canoed in the summer and played hockey on in the winter.

So there was plenty of space to wander far away from home and it sometimes could be difficult for a mother to get her kids home when it was dinner time.  

Because this was way before we all had cell phones, each mom had their own unique way of calling out; some shouted, some screamed, some sang, and some whistled; all in an attempt to call each of their children home.

My mom would call for us to come home for dinner by ringing a dinner bell. It was loud and its distinct sound could be heard no matter what direction we had gone from the house.

When each of us heard the screaming, shouting, calling, singing or ringing, it sometimes meant that we needed to get home because we were in trouble; they were trying to get our attention to return immediately.

Each of us knew our mom’s ‘voice’ and learned that we needed to come when we were being called.

Did you know that even God has His own unique way to call His children? Often times we think that His only way to communicate to us is dramatic with lightning, thunder, fire, wind, and explosions and so we may miss it when He calls. But one of the more unusual ways He does it was by whistling.

Yes, I said; “whistling”!

The Prophet Zechariah writes on behalf of God;  

“I will whistle for them and gather them, for I will redeem them; and they shall increase as they once increased.” (Zechariah 10:8 NKJV)

I love how Eugene Peterson translated it;

“I’ll whistle and they’ll all come running. I’ve set them free—oh, how they’ll flourish!

He is whistling because He wants to gather His children to Himself!

In Isaiah, we hear Him whistling because His children were ‘in trouble’ and He was trying to get their attention to return to Him immediately.

“He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, and will whistle to them from the end of the earth; surely they shall come with speed, swiftly. (Isaiah 5:26 NKJV)

Do you hear God calling out to you? If not, perhaps it is because you have limited how He can communicate with you. Jesus said;

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27 NKJV)

Perhaps you missed it when He ‘whistled’.

 

NKJV = New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright � 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.)