Vocal Retorts

My alarm clock goes off at 6:30 am.
That is actually late for me.
For years, I got up at 4:45 every morning.
It was nice to get a jump on the day.

People actually groaned when I told them the time I woke up.
I wanted to be up before my children.
I wanted to shower and get dressed for the day.
I wanted to have my own breakfast and some quiet time before they all woke up.

Now that my children are grown and my youngest is in college, I sleep in a bit.
The time I wake up is still early to some but it is late for me.
I still walk each morning.
I still have time with the Lord before I go about my day.

After a busy weekend, the Monday morning alarm clock is annoying.
The beep, that jars me from my sleep, sounds obnoxiously loud sometimes.
I keep my alarm clock on the other side of the room.
Getting up to turn it off is my way to make sure I am up for the day.

OK, OK, I heard myself say out loud to my alarm clock.
As if the clock could hear me.
As if the clock could or would do anything about my frustration.
I thought about that as I took a shower.

I talked to an inanimate object.
It actually felt good to complain to my alarm clock.
It could not change a thing.
It just felt good to vocalize my annoyance.

I thought about the other inanimate objects I talk to on any given day.
I’m coming, I’m coming, I say to the doorbell if I’m upstairs when it rings.
Don’t hang up, Don’t hang up, I say when the phone rings and I do not get there on time.
You’ve got to be kidding, I say to the post office window one minute after they close for lunch.

I am not proud of my vocal retorts.
I am usually quite patient.
However, some days those little things are more annoying than other days.
Some days you just have to say something even if no one is listening.

Come on, come on, I say when I find myself running a bit late.
Oh, no you don’t, I say when I see a squirrel trying to climb the bird feeder.
Really? I ask when someone puts a cartload of groceries on the belt in an express lane.
Where is it? I ask when I am driving somewhere for the first time.

None of my vocal retorts are answered.
They are spoken into the air.
It is almost cathartic to express them.
My vocal retorts have a root cause: the sin nature that we struggle with since the Fall.

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the LORD’s commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing. Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the LORD’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire—he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.” Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.(1 Kings 18:16-29)

Elijah was a prophet of God.
Ahab was a wicked king of Israel who worshiped Baal.
There was a showdown between the prophet of the Lord and the prophets of Baal.
God won.

The prophets of Baal called out to their false god for hours.
They cut themselves, they danced around the altar they made.
But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
How terribly sad.

Their vocal retorts went into the air.
Their vocal retorts might have made them feel better, but there was no one to answer them.
They were talking to an inanimate object who could not and would not respond.
That is what happens when we put our trust in a false god.

However, when we pray to our Father in heaven, He hears us and He answers.
We are not just speaking into the air.
We are speaking to a Person.
We know we will get an answer.

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. (Jeremiah 33:3)

That is the most wonderful, comforting promise.
Call to Me and I will answer you.
God the Father heard the cry of His people.
He answered with The Word, His Son, Jesus.

Rejoice.
You are heard.