Being here in the middle of nowhere has been rough, we don’t have access to much at all. We just recently got the privilege of using the flushing toilet (before we were using long drops), I’m not sure that our “shower” really deserves to be called a shower, and the only ”store” within a 20-30 minute drive only sells lollipops, coke, and laundry soap. So compared to our standard of living back at home, life sounds pretty rough. But despite the things that make living here sound dreadful and unbearable, life here in Malealea is far from that. We are surrounded by a community of people who have an abundant overflow of God’s love, there are incredible mountain ranges in all directions that seem to change colors from blue to tan to pink and purple as the day goes on, and then at night the stars.
The stars here are unlike anything I have ever seen. Back home I can’t say I was ever a huge fan of star gazing, because yes the stars were cool and beautiful and amazing, but it was only possible to see the brightest ones so it seemed as if there were only a handful of stars in the sky each night. But here in the mountains of Lesotho, where the only light for miles is the occasional fire up in the villages, that handful of stars from back home turns into a sky full of stars. It went from only seeing the brightest stars to seeing those same bright stars accompanied by clusters of stars and galaxies that were hidden before because of everything back home that shined brighter. And it was those stars and galaxies that make the night sky irresistible to look at.
These stars, because they’re not clouded over by distractions, reveal so much more than I expected they ever could, which is so similar to the way our lives work. God has so much that he wants to show us and reveal to us, but too often we let the world cloud our vision. We only see the brightest stars in our lives, the things that are way too obvious to miss. We tend to only see the ways in which God is moving in big ways, but often he does that to get our attention. He wants us to look up at those bright stars that outshine the distractions of the world and then look past them to what else He is trying to say to us.
Satan does a pretty good job of hiding a majority of those stars, a majority of what God is speaking to us. He knows how to make us content with only seeing the most obvious ways that God speaks to us. He makes us think that those bright stars are the only stars out there. But in reality, God has so much more to show us. Once we remove the distractions of this world, God begins to speak in numerous ways. He speaks in ways we never expected, and we are able to hear Him clearly. Once we escape from the things Satan uses to distract us and constrict our view of God, a whole new world begins to open up before our eyes.
This past week, I’ve realized just how important it is to remove those distractions. God is always moving and always has so much to say to us, but how often do we look past those few obvious, bright stars? How often do we allow ourselves to truly see what it is that God is saying? I’ve realized that it’s a choice. We have to choose to listen to what it is that God says, that’s what it means to actually have a relationship with Him. It’s not enough to know He’s there and never look to hear what He has to say about anything. So remove the light that comes from the world, the voices of the world, that cloud out the millions of things God is speaking. I can guarantee it’ll be worth it because God never disappoints.
