Letting God Talk

Stop.

Just stop, right now.

Stop moving, stop talking, stop trying to figure it out.  

Stop.

And listen.

Do you hear Him?

Wait and listen for His voice.

Let it cut through the striving frenzy of human emotion and the opinion of man.

Let it brush away the confusion.

What is He saying?

What does He want?

In YOUR life?

I am intrigued and baffled by the insistence we have at gazing at everyone else's navel when we haven't cleaned our own out yet.  God speaks to us, and our job is to follow Him.  

I recently did something that I knew I needed to do.  It was the right thing to do.  I did it, and it turned out well for all involved, and I was glad.  Mission accomplished.  And yet.

Days later God whispered in my heart, and He wasn't impressed.  Although it was the "right" thing to do, and it turned out well, I had missed what God wanted.  See, I was happy to do what I knew was right, and I had my eyes on myself.  But God had really been interested in my motivation.  He didn't want me to do it for me or to be satisfied with the result I received.  It hadn't been about me.  I needed to hear what He wanted me to hear in the situation.

It can be hard to understand clearly what God is doing, but if we'll stop and listen, we'll hear Him.

I read this recently:

"...'and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished'...But they understood none of these things...." (Luke 18:31,34)

God was working out His purpose, and the disciples weren't understanding it.  From their vantage point, it didn't make sense.

"God called jesus Christ to what seemed absolute disaster.  And Jesus Christ called His disciples to see Him put to death, leading every one of them to the place where their hearts were broken.  His life was an absolute failure from every standpoint except God's.  But what seemed to be failure from man's standpoint was a triumph from God's standpoint, because God's purpose is never the same as man's purpose.  

This bewildering call of God comes into our lives as well.  The call of God can never be understood absolutely or explained externally; it is a call that can only be perceived and understood internally by our true inner-nature.  The call of God is like the call of the sea--no one hears it except the person who has the nature of the sea in him.  What God calls us to cannot be definitely stated, because His call is simply to be His friend to accomplish His own purposes.  Our real test is in truly believing that God knows what he desires.  The things that happen do not happen by chance--they happen entirely by the decree of God.  God is sovereignly working out His own purposes.....If we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the calm, relaxed pace which should be characteristic of the children of God."  Oswald Chambers.

Things can look wrong but be right.  

Things can look one way and be another.

Let's hear God.  Give Him the room to speak into our hearts.  Let Him direct and re-direct us.

When's the last time you heard God redirect you the way you were thinking about something?