There's a kind of strength that comes from experience, and then there's a deeper strength,
the kind that comes from listening. When you've walked with God for a while,
you start to notice something. God doesn't always move the same way twice.
Sometimes, the most decisive victories don't start with movement, but with stillness,
with paying attention, with the whisperer.
Welcome to Verses We Missed. I'm your host, your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb.
Every week, we slow down and notice the passages in Scripture that are easy to overlook,
the ones hiding in plain sight, the verses that are often overshadowed by the larger story.
Today's verse is one of these small verses with a world inside it.
Today's verse is 2 Samuel 5, 24. Let's read it.
And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees,
then rouse yourself, for the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.
So here's the context.
David has just become king over all Israel.
It's been a long journey to get there.
Years of waiting.
Years of being misunderstood, chased, hunted, betrayed, and forgotten.
And now, finally, David is king.
The promise God made when David was a teenager has now come true.
Almost immediately, though, the Philistines, Israel's old and persistent enemy, gather
themselves against David.
They're not just attacking Israel.
They're attacking David's calling.
So David does what he's done many times before.
He asks God what to do.
And God says, Go up, I will give them into your hand.
And David goes, and he wins with decisive victory.
It's a clear success.
But then the Philistines come back.
Same army, same valley, same threat.
Now, this is where the story turns.
Most of us would probably say, I know how to do this.
I've done this before.
We'd go right back to the strategy that worked last time.
But what did David do?
He asks again.
And this time God says,
Don't go up.
Wait.
Huh.
Don't rush.
Don't assume.
Don't rely on yesterday's success.
Wait.
Listen.
And then God gives him something unusual and beautiful.
He says,
When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees,
Move quickly, for I have gone ahead of you.
Not when the army looks ready.
Not when the circumstances make sense.
And not when you feel confident, but when the trees themselves begin to speak.
When you hear something you cannot produce.
When you sense movement that isn't yours.
When the whisper of God speaks to your heart.
Then go, because I am already there.
So what was David's secret weapon? It was not skill or strategy or courage or experience.
David's secret weapon was he listened. He didn't assume God works the same way twice.
He didn't trade relationship for formula. He didn't replace dependence with memory.
Faith is not repeating what worked last time.
Faith is asking again.
God wants to be consulted.
So let's be honest.
We love when God moves very clearly and dramatically, don't we?
We want the parted sea, the fire on the mountain, the big unmistakable moments.
But most of the Christian life is not lived on mountaintops.
Most of the Christian life is lived in kitchens, in cars, in workplaces, in quiet mornings,
in restless nights.
And the voice of God in those places is usually not thunder.
It's whisper.
Not because he's distant, but because he is close.
Whisper distance.
Closer than breath distance.
Think about your life right now.
Where do you feel pressure to act?
Where do you feel the urge to hurry?
Where do you feel the fear of,
if I don't make this happen, it won't happen?
Well, that pressure is almost never from God.
God's voice is firm, but it is never frantic.
God's direction is clear, but it is never rushed.
The enemy pushes.
Fear pushes.
Shame pushes.
But God?
God leads.
God invites.
God whispers.
The marching in the trees, the whisper might be a peace that doesn't match your situation,
a scripture that keeps coming back to your mind, a quiet sense of wait,
a conversation that arrives at just the right time, a moment of clarity that doesn't come from you.
These are the gentle footprints of God going before you.
Your job is not to force motion.
Your job is to notice motion.
Not to make the wind blow, but to listen when it moves.
There might be moments in life when you look back and say,
I almost rushed.
I almost forced my way.
I almost tried to make the promise happen myself.
But then something held you.
Something slowed you.
Something whispered,
Wait, I'm already ahead of you.
And later you realized, if you had moved earlier, you would have moved alone.
But when you waited, you moved with God.
And that made all the difference.
Let's rest here for a moment, because this is where the weight of the passage touches real life.
Most of us don't struggle with knowing what God wants as much as we struggle with waiting to hear
it. We like certainty. We like plans. We like steps. We like being able to point and say,
I know exactly what God wants me to do right now. But so often, God invites us into something
slower, something quieter, something relational. In other words, sometimes the hardest part of
following God is choosing not to move yet. Think about how uncomfortable waiting is.
Our minds start racing. What if I miss my chance? What if nothing happens? What if I'm supposed to
act and I just don't realize it? What if God is silent because I did something wrong?
But the waiting in this passage is not punishment. It's closeness. God was not leaving David guessing
in silence. God was saying, I am already out ahead of you. I'm already working. I'm not asking you
to make this happen. I'm asking you to walk with me. The whisper in the trees wasn't about testing
David. It was about trusting God. And maybe that's where you are right now. You can feel that
something is shifting. You can feel pressure to act. You can feel the urge to rush. But the
whisper of God is saying, don't run ahead of me. I go first. What if the most spiritual thing you
can do right now is to slow down. Take a breath. Let your shoulders drop. Stop rehearsing outcomes
in your mind. And just ask, Lord, are you already here? Are you going ahead of me? Am I supposed to
wait for your whisper? Because the same God who moved through the trees for David still goes before
his people today. And he is not late. He is not unclear. He is not indifferent. He is near enough
to whisper. Let's pray. Father, teach us to listen. Teach us to recognize your movement.
Teach us to wait for your whisper instead of rushing ahead.
Make our hearts soft enough to hear you and bold enough to follow you when you move.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
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And remember, this is a weekly show released every Tuesday at 10 p.m. Pacific.
So it's there waiting for you Wednesday morning, a midweek breath of Scripture and grace.
And as you go today, may you move only when He moves.
May you listen before you act.
And may you hear his whisper when you need it most.
Isaiah 30, 21 says,
And your ears shall hear a word behind you saying,
This is the way. Walk in it.
May God bless you richly.
I'm Steve Webb.
Bye.