beep, beep, beep, beep

As a ‘stocking filler’ at Christmas we gave our son a little gadget to put on his key ring. It’s one of those fobs that beeps when you whistle to tell you where your lost keys are. A useful present, we thought, especially as “where are my keys” had been a regular question.

So, ‘whistle’… beep, beep, beep, beep

‘Clap hands’… beep, beep, beep, beep

‘cough’… beep, beep, beep, beep

*keys jangle*… beep, beep, beep, beep

*speaks normally*… beep, beep, beep, beep

*switches on light switch*… beep, beep, beep, beep

You get the idea. What was a good idea had become an irritant and annoyance. This was because the key fob had become over-zealous. It had decided that its job was not to help us locate lost keys but to tell us where the keys were at all times of the day and night. We did not ask it to change its job description or become over-zealous, that was a unilateral decision by the key fob.

One of my favourite Bible verses is in Isaiah 30…

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
(Isa 30:18-21)

This is the context – Isaiah was proclaiming that God’s judgement on his rebellious people was going to come in the form of defeat and invasion. And in the midst of the doom and gloom there is a ‘yet’. God is gracious. His justice is tempered with mercy. And God will be so close to his people when they cry for help that they will hear his guiding voice: “This is the way; walk in it”.

I love the sense of intimacy, involvement and inspiration in that last part of the passage. Whatever you do, wherever you go, if you cry out to God he is there already, within earshot. He is not an over-zealous key fob that is going beyond its remit, beeping madly at us whatever we do. He is God who is ever-present and zealous for us. He longs for us to follow his guidance, to walk in his ways and to listen to him.