Nearing Home by Billy Graham (best book club books for discussion txt) 📗

of old men is their gray head” (Proverbs 20:29 NKJV). Young people often take for granted the strength and wisdom the aged can still possess, and the aged sometimes push the limits of their wisdom! But I can certainly remember as a young man thinking of my father as one with great strength. He was a farmer. He worked with his hands. And as he grew older, my respect grew deeper for his strength of wisdom.

As I am living much longer than my father did, one of my great surprises in the aging process has been the loss of strength to do the simplest things: getting up from a chair, having endurance to visit with someone longer than an hour, or just going to the doctor’s office. God knows our infirmities. He knows our strength wanes as the years pass. Our dependence on Him delights Him. Paul reminds us in Colossians 1:29 that he depended on Christ’s mighty power that works within, and we can claim this as well. Remember, He didn’t create our bodies to live forever, and He knows exactly how we feel.

We shouldn’t spend time thinking about ourselves and how weak we are. Instead we should think about God and how strong He is. Just as the sensors built into the power suit respond by voice recognition and infuse the suit with power, we are told to respond to God’s voice and He will be our strength. The psalmist wrote, “My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart” (Psalm 73:26 NKJV). Are we depending on Him? Are we recognizing His voice?

WHEN GOD SPEAKS

I have never heard the voice of the Lord audibly, but the Lord has spoken to me many times throughout my life. You might ask, “How can someone recognize His voice?” The Bible says, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37 NKJV). To recognize the voice of the Lord, we must belong to Him.

A grandmother and granddaughter were shopping together one day, and every time the young girl’s mobile phone would ring, she would immediately answer by saying the caller’s name. After several phone calls, the grandmother was puzzled and asked, “Dear, how is it that you know the name of the person before they even have a chance to speak?” The granddaughter giggled, hugged her grandmother’s neck, and said, “It’s a new technology, Granny. Caller ID.” When the granddaughter explained how it worked, the grandmother said, “Well I declare, we didn’t have to have that technology back in my day. My neighbor was the one who identified all those who called—we shared a party line.” Then the granddaughter was the one perplexed until she heard the amazing story of shared phone lines, before her time.

Well, Ruth never had to identify herself when she called me on my many trips around the world. When I picked up the phone and heard her speak, I knew the voice of my wife. That was also years before mobile phones and caller ID. I never had to ask my children to identify themselves by name when they phoned. I could easily distinguish the voices of my daughters Gigi, Anne, and Bunny, and my two sons Franklin and Ned. My sisters Catherine and Jean, and my brother, Melvin, were unmistakable voices to me. I can remember times when I would answer the phone and hear my mother’s sweet voice. I never had to ask who was calling. We recognize the voices of those who are dear to us and those with whom we commune.

Likewise, if we are communicating with the Lord Jesus through prayer and meditating on His Word, our spirits will identify with His voice. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27 NKJV). The Lord would not expect us to hear His voice if He did not make it possible. He sends out His mighty voice (Psalm 68:33) and says we can hear it (Psalm 95:7): “I will give them hearts that recognize me as the LORD” (Jeremiah 24:7 NLT); and “Obey My voice, and I will be your God” (Jeremiah 7:23 NKJV).

The voice of the Lord comes in various ways: a voice in the midst of the fire (Deuteronomy 5:24); a voice upon the waters (Psalm 29:3); a voice from Heaven (Matthew 3:17); a voice out of the cloud (Matthew 17:5); the voice of His mouth (Acts 22:14); a voice from the excellent glory (2 Peter 1:17); and a voice out of the throne (Revelation 19:5).

Do we listen for His voice in our everyday activity? Sometimes He speaks, but we don’t hear. We can’t blame it on the batteries going dead in our hearing aids. God’s voice is not bound by man’s inventions. God speaks to the human heart. His voice is described as full of majesty (Psalm 29:4), a still small voice (1 Kings 19:12), and a glorious voice (Isaiah 30:30). The Lord’s voice is identified as the voice of the living God (Deuteronomy 5:26), the voice of the bridegroom (Jeremiah 7:34), and the voice of the Almighty (Ezekiel 1:24).

His is a powerful voice (Psalm 29:4). It shakes the wilderness (Psalm 29:8), divides the flames of fire (Psalm 29:7), thunders (Job 37:5), and rushes like many waters (Revelation 1:15); and His voice cries to the city (Micah 6:9). We are to obey His voice (Deuteronomy 13:4) and hearken to the voice of His word (Psalm 103:20).

Telecommunications have changed our world. It used to be that when I would get on an airplane, my wife would be assured she wouldn’t hear from me for hours. Now there are few instances when anyone is disconnected. We can call from the sky while in flight. It is no longer necessary to pull off the highway to make a call from a pay phone. But sometimes reception is difficult. It is not unusual for a cellular phone to drop a call in midsentence or for the transmission to be