The one my favorite things to do for relaxation is fish. Being on a cold mountain stream, the sound of the water, the solitaire, often calms my soul and gives me focus and direction. As a young man, I would often hike around the hills and mountains near where I lived in central Utah searching for that perfect fishing hole. There were many signs along the river bank that would indicate the best spot for that big trout. A downed tree, a bend in the river, a rock line, and many more small signs. Once, while fishing in a high mountain meadow stream, I found several narrow trails coming from the Aspen covered hills, leading right to the stream bank. The trails were hardly noticeable, except that they seemed out of the ordinary to me in some way. Instead of ignoring the signs, I followed the trails to their source. At the edge of the Aspen groves were pointed white stumps with gnaw marks, each one with it’s own path leading down to the stream. Beaver, and where there were beaver, there was a bound to be a beaver dam and a beaver dam. As I went up stream, it wasn’t long before I found the beaver pond, full of big hungry cut throat trout. I recognized a little sign and knew that something big was up ahead!
This story illustrates to me that our Heavenly Father may very well be doing something big on the stream just ahead of us, even when the signs may seems small. We can't see it yet -but it's important to be able to see the little signs of "God's something big." That's a part of what faith is all about.
In 1 Kings, we read about when Elijah had prayed that God would show His power in Israel by sending a 3-year drought. After 3 years, he prayed for the drought to end. Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. His servant went up and looked. "There is nothing there," he said. Seven times Elijah said, "Go back." The seventh time the servant reported that a cloud as small as a man's hand was rising from the sea. Elijah told his servant to go and tell Ahab (the king), "Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you." It hadn't rained for three years, but Elijah saw that little cloud and knew that something big was coming. (1 Kings 18:42)
Elijah reminds me of those small, narrow trails, leading from the Aspens to the stram bank. The experience taught me to keep my eyes wide open, looking for and expecting a small sign the big sign that God was going to do. Get ready for big event. Elijah's servant saw a little cloud - and Elijah, with his trained eye for God at work, said, "Get ready for a deluge."
So often, we are so focused on the "big fish" we're praying for, that we miss the little signs along the way. We want that big thing from heaven - some times so much, that we miss the little things He is doing on the way to the big thing. Great faith includes the ability to look for and recognize the small and simple things . . . to be able to track the signs of what our Heavenly Father is doing.
The story of Elijah praying for rain encourages us to open our eyes today for the wonderful things from heave around us . . . the little cloud that will enlarge our faith to expect the big rain . . . the little trails that may lead us to the "big fish." A lot of times we are unnecessarily discouraged and disheartened because we don't see the tracks of God that are all over our day. That's why prayer, faith and a open heart are so important. A heart that is open, is a heart that is always looking around for God at work - and earnestly seeking to recognize God’s hand in every small and simple thing.
In Psalm 5:3, David says, "My voice you shall hear in the morning, Oh Lord; in the morning I will direct it to you and I will look up." The test of if we have really trusted God in our prayers is what we expect to find after we say "amen."
So right now, right where we are, there are little signs of God at work - the "small trail" that says that the "big fish" is ahead. Before God shows us the big things up ahead, He wants us to see Him in the little things that are right in front of us!