Are You Listening?

There is a senior saint in my church who always has three words to say whenever something of great importance is said.  He says these three words anywhere in the service from the announcements to the sermon.  "Are you listening?"

I don't know about you but there are times in my life when I am seeking clear direction from God.  I have prayed and prayed but still there appears to be no answer.  It is as if the Lord is silent.  I know He hasn't left me because it says in the Word that 'he will never leave me nor forsake me'.  So why does it seem like God is silent?  Today I would like you to take a look at this question from a different angle.  Maybe it is not that God is silent.  Maybe you just haven't tuned out all the noise around you in order to hear God speak.  When I am in a state of stress or worry, frustrated and distressed, it is very difficult for me to tune out the noise in my head. At this moment in time it is a little bit more difficult to bring every thought captive.  Not only that but I don't sit still long enough to hear God speak because I have gone and taken matters into my own hands.  I need to fix the situation before it gets worse. 

Maybe God is not speaking audibly to your current situation. But have you stopped and took a look around you.  What is He saying in the other areas of your life?  You know the saying 'it's hard to see the forest for the trees'.  If your focus is only on your problem you don't have time to look at the blessings going on daily in your life.  There are mornings when I just like to look outside and enjoy nature.  Even on a morning where it is cloudy and raining, I can thank God for the rain because in a little while that rain will produce green grass and beautiful flowers.  Our lives are very similar to this.  We may not like the rain when it falls but we know that we can 'count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing'...James 1:2-4.

How else does God speak to us...through the Word.  Sixty-six books of the Bible.  Thirty-six in the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New Testament. The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.  But it is not going to become a part of you through osmosis.  You actually have to open it and read it and on more than Sunday morning.  When you are faced with difficult times pray and ask God what He would have you to read.  There have been times when I have felt like giving up and I have opened my Bible to a word that spoke life to my soul.  You do know that The Word has that kind of power.  It is living and breathing and inspired by God.  (II Timothy 3:16)  These are not just words some men got together and wrote, God decided what made the cut.  He knew the help we would need to help develop and grow our faith in Him.  We would need stories like God being with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in that fiery furnace.  He knew that we would also face our own fiery furnace.  What about Daniel in the lion's den?  Some of you face a lion's den everyday at home or maybe on your jobs.  Or maybe you have had your own Red Sea experience where it didn't look promising going forward or looking back.  But since you know what God did for the children of Israel when He parted the Red Sea, you know that He can do the same or greater for you.  Or what about the woman at Zarephath?  Are you facing a time of famine?  Famine in your marriage.  Famine in your finances.  Famine in your cupboards.  Well if you know this story, you know that God is able to take the little that you may have and make it stretch over a long period of time. 

Many of us think that God is being silent in our lives.  We believe that He is unconcerned about our needs.  Your faith may be dwindling.  Maybe God is not showing up in a major way and performing a major miracle, but is He sustaining you.  Has He been your keeper when hell is breaking out all around you. I just stopped by to encourage you and ask you one simple question, "Are you listening?"

Most Gracious Heavenly Father,

I come to You in the humblest way that I know how.  First giving praise, honor and glory to Your Name.  I thank you for God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit.  I believe that the Bible is living and breathing and the inspired Word of God.  Help me to hide it in my heart to help me in difficult times.  I realize that it is another tool that You have left me to help me.  As my faith continues to grow, help me to lean not on my own understanding but to acknowledge Your hand working in my life so that I will become the person You want me to be and so that You will be glorified.  In Jesus' Wonderful Name I pray Amen.