Pastor Brian's Article for 04/06/2008

We call prayer a conversation with God, but a conversation where only one person speaks is a monologue.  It is hard for us to conceptualize God speaking to us.  Most of us are grounded in reality, and the thought of hearing God speak makes us feel schizophrenic.  Yet when we look into the Scripture, we find phrases like this:  “the Lord said.”  It is not once or twice, but hundreds of times.  We call the Bible the “Word of God.”  The Bible itself is an example of God speaking.

If we are going to hear from God, we have to be still.  In American life today, that is no small task.  If we are going to hear from God, we have to be quiet.  We cannot continue to talk and hear what God has to say to us.  The mind is a busy place.  If we are going to hear from God, we have to empty our minds of all the noise.  This is not something we do for just a few minutes a day, but it has to be a practice that we employ for our entire life. The turbines of a hydro-electric damn produce no electricity if the valve that lets the water in is closed.  Our silence is a door for God to enter.  Our silence is an ear for us to hear. 

We have all known times when we felt that God was not listening.  What do we do when we think that someone is not listening?  We generally raise our voice and talk all the more.  When we feel that God is not listening, our intercession is more urgent.  It reaches a roar.  All the time it seems that God is mute.   What if He is not mute?  What if He is speaking, but we just can’t hear for all the noise that we are making? 

“An elementary age child was playing in front of a huge door at a hotel.  Someone entered the room quickly, throwing the door abruptly open, and the brass handle struck the child’s face.  He sprawled backward, covered in blood.  Wailing in terror, he ran to his father, who tried to calm him down.  But the child continued to scream.  The child’s cries could only be silenced when he was held at arm’s length and shaken.  The apparently brutal action by one who loved him stopped his screaming.  Then in the quietness of muffled sobs, the child became aware that his father was not only there but speaking.” 

Many of you are aware that I lost my first wife Julie to breast cancer just over ten years ago.   During the time of her illness, hundreds prayed that she would be healed.  She was not.  The seven months of her illness were a struggle for me.  Where was God when I needed Him the most?  Why was He not taking any action on Julie’s behalf?  Why was He not listening?  As the time of her death drew near, I began to hear God.  He had been speaking all the time.  In those painful months and in the months of grieving that followed, I learned more about God’s love and grace than I had before or since, but I had to be quiet and listen. 

Job found himself afflicted and came to the point of demanding an explanation from God.  God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind; we would call it a tornado.  Out of that violent storm, God spoke to Job.  He did not answer any of Job’s questions, he did, however, ask Job a series of questions.  “Where were you when…?”  God speaks through His word, the Spirit, the church, the things He has made and circumstances, but only to those who are listening. 

That Jesus May Be Revealed,

Brian

Taken from A Hunger for The Holy, Calvin Miller, chapter 5

Scripture References:

Mark 12:41-44    – The widow’s giving is a beautiful example of faith. The important lesson it teaches is that she gave all that she had.

2 Samuel 6:1-11 – Now David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.  And David arose and went with all the people who were with him to Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the Name, the very name of the LORD of hosts who is enthroned above the cherubim.  They placed the ark of God on a new cart that they might bring it from the house of Abinadab which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were leading the new cart.  So they brought it with the ark of God from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Ahio was walking ahead of the ark. Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of instruments made of fir wood, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets and cymbals.  But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it.  And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God.  David became angry because of the LORD'S outburst against Uzzah, and that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day.  So David was afraid of the LORD that day; and he said, "How can the ark of the LORD come to me?"  And David was unwilling to move the ark of the LORD into the city of David with him; but David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.  Thus the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household.