I've been thinking this week about listening to God's voice and the Presence of God. I've been feeling a bit spiritually dry the last few weeks and struggling to hear the Lords voice. Being in a new environment without the familiarity of people you know well and starting a new course, I've found myself doing a lot of thinking. Thinking about where God is taking me next in life. Thinking about the wonderful things I'm learning on the course. It is easy to find oneself drifting into thinking about the future or abstract things and not enjoying the moment.
Last weekend I was wrestling with lots of ideas about engaging with community and mission and what I'd read and heard about this. Whatever I do in the future I want to learn to engage with my community. To live out the gospel not with words but action, with everyday people on the street, my neighbours, the sick, the tired, the poor (spiritually, physically…) and whatever community God puts me in. I was thinking about all the different ways of doing community and wrestling with all the different ideologies I'd been learning in my module on Spirit and Church in a Mission Context. I'd been researching different approaches to church; seeker-sensitive, New Monasticism etc.. and also looking at Church history and its affect on mission and New Testament passages on these things. It was all fascinating stuff. But one night I realised "I just need your voice Lord!"
I found myself saying, "Lord its all very well thinking about these things but how do you know which is the right way? I don't want to just learn, I want to put the things I learn into practice! And Lord why can't I hear your voice?" Then its like the words of the Lord just fell on me some sort of revelation, like sweet water to my soul and it went something like this,
"There are many winds out there...lots of different ways of thinking, philosophies, ideologies…..and these winds change with culture and time. There is often truth in these winds. But if you follow these you will be tossed around on the sea….from one idea to the next. But I want you to bend you're ear to the winds and listen to My still small voice...often quieter than all the others. My voice is timeless; it doesn't change with yesterday, today and tomorrow because I AM who I am. When you hear my voice you will know the way you have to go. My voice brings discernment and wisdom. It enables you not to be tossed from one idea to the next...or one neighbours difficulty to the next…..for you will be able to discern what is true and know what path I want you to take. You will know who I want you to draw near to as you learn to increasingly hear my voice."
The following day I received an email from a friend with the scripture Proverbs 19v21, "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."
On Tuesday of this week we heard a talk from the Principle of the college on the Presence of God and listening to Him and waiting in His Presence. I was like "OK Lord I'm getting the message now!" Alan quoted Exodus 33v13-18 and particularly the verse where Moses says, "If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here." He also referred to Gabriel in Luke when he appears to Zechariah (1v18-20) and the angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the Presence of God...." He said that the Greek for servant means "to stand by". Alan said living in the anointing of God is about learning to 'stand by' in the presence of God. He said "people are in such a hurry that they don't take time to listen...we learn to wait for commodity but not for the Lord." He went on to speak about how there is value in waiting on God. It is a frightening thing because it means your life is not ordered or patterned out! You’re not in control!
He went on to quote Exodus 24v12, "The Lord said to Moses, 'come up to me on the mountain and stay there...." Let’s not be present but absent to the voice of God. We only come alive by understanding and knowing the voice of God. Alan talked of his experience of ministry and said it is always about being a servant and a true servant learns to stand in the presence of God and partner with him, learning to anticipate what is required.
So is hearing the voice of God all rosy and easy for me now?!!! No certainly not! But My hunger is being awakened again, like the psalmist in chapter 63 v1 who says, “my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” I want to be like the boy Samuel in 1 Samuel 3 and eagerly say, “Speak God your servant is listening!” Please make me long for Your presence Lord, more than anything else. For Your Voice above all the others. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment