The Voice

Our daughter, when she was about four, was getting into lots of things and testing her limits. My husband called it a lively spirit of scientific exploration. I called it the stage we needed to get out of soon.

One day I pulled her onto my lap.

I said, “Karen, when you start to do something you shouldn’t, stop and listen. If you hear a little voice inside you say “No!” then just don’t do what you are about to do.” She agreed to the plan.

I felt so much power and peace. I was sure that I had solved the whole problem!

NOT! That same afternoon she came running into the house sobbing. She told me the whole story of what she had done.

She took a deep breath in between sobs and said, “Mommy, I heard that little voice just like you said, but I HAD to do it anyway!”

Then my favorite part, she threw her arms around me and warmed my heart with, “I’m sorry, mommy!”

“I love you, Karen,” I whispered.

This story is amusing until we realize that, as adults, we do the same thing. There are times when we ignore what the voice behind us is telling us. We take the wrong path.

We know we can turn toward God and ask His forgiveness. He will be by our side to love us through whatever we have done wrong.

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.” Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)

Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. Romans 7:20 (NIV)