My neice and I have been spending the last 8 weeks reading and discussing Priscilla Shirer's book, "He Speaks to Me". Every Monday evening while my son tutors her daughter in Math, Michelle and I meet to study God's Word. It's been a precious journey. Michelle is not only my neice (by marriage), but she is one of my dearest friends. For an hour once a week we uncover treasures and encourage one another in our walk with the Lord.
As we have been learning to position ourselves to hear from God, the truth of this verse in Job rings clear. God is speaking, but we are not recognizing His voice. Why? Mainly because of our lack of time with Him.
Think about it. When you answer the phone and can recognize and identify the caller immediately without sight, how is that? It's because you have built up a relationship, spent time with that person, talked often and listened hard. In short, you KNOW them.
The same is true in our relationship with the Lord. The more time we spend with Him, the more we will discern His voice. I don't believe it's so much that God isn't speaking to us, although at times He can be silent, I think it's more that we aren't preparing our hearts to listen by spending time in His presence.
I love what Priscilla wrote regarding Samuel. 1 Samuel 3:3 says, "Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was." "Because Samuel had a sold-out hunger for God, he snuggled up right next to the veil to get as close to Him as he possibly could." The night that God spoke to him, he was sleeping as close as he could get to the Holy of Holies. Christ's death has since removed that barrier for us and we have full access into His presence. Priscilla writes that we no longer have Samuel's problem, but we need his passion. God speaks to those who are passionately pursing Him. "Going into the Holy of Holies would have cost Samuel his life. Not going in will cost us ours."
God is speaking. Don't doubt that truth. If you are not hearing from Him, ask Him to show you why. Check for any unconfessed sin or pride. Seek holiness and wait silently. Ask the Lord to give you a deeper hunger for Him and for His Word. Then, when He does speak, submit in obedience to His call.
This song has often spoken deeply to my heart. Listen today. God is speaking. He's saying, "I love you".
5 comments:
Joy,
Thanks for your words today. I was doing some mundane work and thought I would take a break and pop over to your blog. I think sometimes I only want to hear exciting things that the Lord has to say; not so much things like "Keep going", "Don't grow weary" - stuff like that. Thanks for reminding me that there is much He wants to say. I just need to listen for all of it.
Have a beautiful day, friend!
Lynn
What a cool song!
God sees. He hears. And He cares.
Blessings,
Linda
HEART OF A READY WRITER – Reading Through the Bible in 2009
Awesome post! I love this song and thanks for sharing about the book!
Nicole
I could not watch/listen to the song because we STILL have dial-up internet and it just won't load it! Bummer!
BUT....last year in my ladies Sunday school class we did an abbreviated version of "He Speaks to Me" (LifeWay's MasterWork book). It was a really good study!
Makes me want to go back and look at it again.
Marilyn
Beautiful post, Joy! A good part of my journey has been spent weeding out the garden the last few years. Every time I get up early, early He meets me. Every time I stay up late, late He meets me. It's in the silence that He meets me, there's just not much of it at my house! All the times I am faithful to come when he calls, he sustains me. Since I have been giving up my rest to meet with Jesus, He shows up every single time. Yes, he's speaking. May we all pause to hear.
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