Whenever I study Old Testament books like Jeremiah, I realize how caught up you can get in history. So each week, I look for the bottom line…what rings true for 2011. God didn’t have someone write down this entire book to be sure we knew which king ruled whom, when. There was an underlying message for the ages.
The bottom line might change from week to week as I go from one section to the next. But for me this week, the word that kept coming to mind was deception.
I just read The Imperial Cruise. If half of what this author had to say is true, it is devastating.
History is kind of like childbirth. We tend to remember the part where they place the precious baby in our arms…not the agony of 12 hours hard labor getting him there. When it comes to America, I just want to remember the good parts.
Our pattern of human abuse, however, did not end with Americans enslaving other humans or driving the Indians from their lands and killing any that resisted. It persisted beyond our borders into the Philippines where we killed thousands just because we wanted their land and resources. We went to the Hawaiian Islands with the same goal. Chinese living in this country in the early 1900’s got the same treatment as the Indians before them about the same time the Ku Klux Klan began to terrorize blacks in the South.
We don’t have to look at other countries. We can stay home. These were all Americans who WENT TO CHURCH, and prayed and read their Bibles. The slave owners, the klansmen, the government officials authorizing troop movements, the officers directing troops, the general populace were all part of a “Christian” nation who went to church.
Nothing has changed since Jeremiah’s day.
So what did the citizens of Judah have in common with us? Deception. They did church well. They knew the commands of God. They gave their money and they celebrated the feasts. They thought they were ok, that God’s protection was upon them, that they were safe.
They were deceived.
God did not say, "I'm upset because you're not going to church," He said, "You are not listening to Me." As a result, their lives did not reflect Him...at all.
I taught my children that it was critical that they be in the Word…read the Word, spend time in the Word, meditate on the Word. I taught them to pray. I taught them to worship. They did church well.
I do not recall many lessons on listening. It may have been in passing…but I don’t think I taught them the absolute necessity of listening. Maybe it’s because I was better at doing than being still and just….listening. I was too busy reading, taking notes, praying. How do you teach a kid to listen? How do you be sure it’s God they’re listening to? Do we ever even give them a chance?
So I asked a group of women how exactly they listened to God? The consensus was that you pray and you read the Word.
That’s important. That’s critical. He speaks to us that way...but is it just limited to that? Is He “saying” anything ….pointedly…to you personally…about something you have been praying about recently? Is the thought, “I’ll continue on in the direction I’m going, God, and if it’s wrong, I trust You to correct the course and I won’t miss it because I’m listening? And I'll do it if it kills me?"
Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice and they know Me.”
You have a room full of 50 two year olds and one mom sneaks in on her hands and knees so none of them can see her and she calls the name of her kid. There might be 10 Johns in the room, but her John immediately knows it is his mom calling. None of the others recognize her as their mom. None of them.
One, in this group of women I was talking to, told about praying about a house to buy. She had found one and was sure it was the right one. She gave the owner earnest money, convinced she was doing the right thing. A couple of days later, she fractured her knee cap and realized she was not going to be able to negotiate the stairs in this house. She said something like, “Something told me that I should not buy this house.”
Now she had been praying constantly about her decision. I’m sure she’d asked everybody in her immediate family and ten friends what they thought…but the opinion she really wanted was God’s. So God gave it. But she as well as most people that I have talked to are reluctant to say, “God told me I should not buy this house.” Why not? I’m sure God is incredulous. Why shouldn’t we expect Him to speak to us?
I don’t think He speaks audibly as a rule, but I do believe He speaks. I was going back into nursing after a ten year leave, raising kids. I took a refresher course and a certification to work in the ER. I kept running into people who had either worked in an ER, knew someone in an ER, knew of openings in an ER….all of which I was convinced, were signs.
I remember where I was standing when God said, “What’s your priority?” Not audibly, but clear as a bell.
“My family,” I responded.
“Will this work for them?”
This job would have entailed a 30 minute commute and 12 hour shifts. I knew the answer. I didn’t need a scripture verse. The answer for me….not for any other woman, just me, my personality, my makeup, my family….clearly was…no. It would not. I didn’t need to ask another soul. I got it straight from God.
And not only was it no, but it was no with peace.
Now how, after praying about this without ceasing, could I possibly say “something told me?” It was not a something….it was not the Mexican food I’d eaten the night before. It was my … heavenly….Father.
He has a lot to say about issues we face in everyday life…money, relationships, many things, and expresses His thoughts clearly in His word. Whatever He tells you will always agree with scripture, it will never contradict a scriptural principle. You do not need to ask if it’s ok to sleep with your boyfriend, if it’s ok to charge up a credit card. He's already spoken to that.
But when He sees the need to speak to your heart about an issue, you will know it is His voice just as surely as the two year old in the room full of toddlers knows his mama’s voice.
The catch is, you're faced with the fact that God Almighty spoke to you...personally. How do you say, "Ummm, good idea, but I dont' think that will work for me." You don't.
The catch is that there might not be a happily ever after ending. There will be peace. You will know without a doubt it was Him. You will be amazed that God Almighty spoke to you about your problem which in the scheme of things is as big as minutiae, but it may not have a happily ever after ending.
The Bible you take to a friend, because God told you to, might end the friendship. The boyfriend you broke up with because God told you to, might never see the light and come back. The house you released and didn’t make an offer on might go to someone else.
But the peace that comes from knowing you heard the voice of God ….. and obeyed….and obeyed, is beyond worth it all.
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