The 2013 spring turkey season proves itself to be more and more exciting each time I step in the woods. My buddy and I were back in one of our favorite spots, and after verifying that the entire flock of turkeys was roosted where we hoped, we slipped into a hardwood ridge amongst them, set up the decoy, and quietly eased down next to a tree. Not long after, the gobblers and jakes around us opened up (it must have been 8-10 of them), and they must have gobbled at least 200 times during that first hour of daylight. With all that commotion, it was hard to clearly determine where the mature birds were roosted in relation to the jakes. The gobbling became so intense that it was difficult to find a quiet enough moment to slide in a few yelps before getting overrun by the next set of gobbles. But with us being close to several male birds, it only took them hearing a few calls, and soon thereafter, they were pitching down and on their way to us. Based on their gobbles and roost location, I thought the approaching birds were jakes, so I chose not to reposition. When they showed up on the ridge to my right, though, their snowball heads, long beards and full strut pose told me quickly that I had messed up. Being out of position, I had to wait for them to work their way ever so slowly toward the decoy, and the lead bird eventually got in line with my gun barrel for a shot at about 12 yards. Upon harvesting that bird, the other one did not flush or run off; rather, he walked around the downed bird, pecked and clawed at him a bit, then hopped up on our decoy and attempt to breed it for 15 minutes or more right in front of us!
1 Kings 19:11-13 (NASB)
So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Thinking back on the noise that all those turkeys were making on Saturday, it reminded me of the busyness, distractions and "noise" that we encounter every day. Just as I lost track of the direction in which the dominant birds were roosted, so we too can focus on the wrong things and in the wrong direction if we are not conditioned to hear and tune into the voice of our Lord. Satan relishes in the ability to use this chaos to disorient us, confuse us, wear us down, and discourage us to the point of giving up on discerning God's voice. However, we must remember that God does not often speak to us in the form of commotion, but rather it is in the still, quiet voice that we discern in the midst of the noise. Unfortunately, some have become so accustomed to the chaotic pace of life that they have grown to be unresponsive to or desensitized to His voice, instead relying on their own knowledge and senses as their guide through the commotion. I can see of that in my life, so this lesson learned during the hunt was even more rewarding than the close encounter with two nice gobblers.
How about you - have you honed your ability, through time invested in scripture and communication with the Lord, to discern His still, quiet voice? Or have you been caught up in the noise and chaos of this world and lost the ability and senses to tune into Him? Choose today to slow down, dig into His Word, and spend time both talking with and listening to the Lord in order to hone those senses. - GE
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