Lord, Give Me Eyes to See and Ears to Hear You.

A while back, I wrote a devotional about a Housefires song called "The One Thing" - about how God isn't one thing on a long list of needs, He's the one thing.

But the bridge is probably my favorite part of that song. The lyrics are:

You give me eyes to see, eyes to see You,
You give me ears to hear, ears to hear You,
You give me a heart to know, heart to know You,
I want to know You more

I tend to drop the You at the beginning of each line and turn it more into a request: Lord, give me eyes to see You. Give me ears to hear You.

It makes me think about Elijah on the mountain. He'd just seen God send fire from heaven at Mount Carmel - consuming the altar, the wood, the stones, even the water in the trench. If anyone knew what God showing up looked like, it was him.

Then God tells him to stand on the mountain. Wind comes that tears the rocks apart. An earthquake. Fire. Every sign you'd expect. But three times the text says the same thing: the LORD was not in the wind. The LORD was not in the earthquake. The LORD was not in the fire.

After all of it, a still small voice. I wonder if Elijah almost missed it because he was looking for the big things.

I recognize that in myself. I'm constantly looking for God in the big things. The answered prayer that's impossible to ignore, the moment that feels unmistakably God.

But most of the time He works in the seemingly small things. The whispers, not the earthquakes. A verse that lands differently on the hundredth read. A peace that arrives when I need it most. A small prayer answered so quietly I almost didn't notice.

And I don't want to miss them. Lord, give me eyes to see You. Give me ears to hear You. Help me know You more than I did yesterday.

P.S. You can listen to the song The One Thing by Housefires below. The bridge starts at around 3m and 50 seconds.