God’s whistle
I can still hear dad’s whistle or mom’s call from the back porch when it was time to come home from spending the day outside. It’s a sound from a simpler time—when we worked and played outside until the sunset and were back out in the morning to watch it rise. That sound always meant it was time to come home. Every child who hears that call knows which home to go to. We recognized the call because we knew who was making the call.
I see a similarity in the book of Isaiah. Here I see God calling to his children—not only reminding them where they are from, but whose they are. Reinforcing that they are part of his story. Note Isaiah’s words in chapter 43:
But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. (vv. 1-2 ESV).
You are mine, he says, and I will always be with you—even walking through fire with you. And when you go out on your own… Notice this next part when he says he will whistle them home…
Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, (vv. 5-6).
Israel did not stay true to God’s covenant and was carted away from home. They came to exile in Babylon. There they settled and became somewhat comfortable in exile. But true to his word, God called them to remember who he was, who they were in him, and to leave Babylon and come home.
Like a parent’s voice that reminds us who we are and where we’re from, God reminds them of their story. He whistles for them to come home.
Do you hear the echoes in this story? This is creation itself—he created you, he formed you. Then the next story—”when you pass through the waters, I will be with you,”—this is the exodus story. God is reminding them who they are and calling them back home from the four corners of the earth.
Has God called to you like this? He is whistling you home. He’s calling you to come out of this disorienting, scattered world and return home to your story. Back to the story, he’s writing for you.
He’s calling you to be who you truly are—the beloved royal child of God. It’s time to respond to the whistle and come home.
Presented by Greg Williams
About the presenter:
Greg Williams is President of Grace Communion International and lives in North Carolina, USA. Word of Life each Sunday is taken from ‘Speaking of Life’, (https://www.gci.org/videos/media-speaking-of-life/), a public resource video on the USA website of Grace Communion International.
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