Is That You? - Discovering God in the moments of life - Part 1
I'm astonished at how long it's been since I last posted. So in order to reconcile that...this post is the beginning of a series of posts about a topic I have touched on previously - hearing from or listening to or sensing God. Keep foremost in your mind, dear reader, that I am not a theologian. I'm just me sharing my experiences and the musings of my heart and mind. I think we all wish that God spoke directly to us in an audible voice, like what appeared to have happened in Old Testament days. But God uses a variety of means to draw us closer to His voice, regardless if it God using His audible voice. Therefore, I'm going to discuss in this series various ways I have heard, sensed, felt God lead, or however it is that God says to me "I am here. I am the Lord."
..."Speak for Your servant is listening." 1 Samuel 3:10
The book of 1 Samuel is my favorite book of Scripture mainly because it introduces us to David. But 1 Samuel deals with the lives of three men: Samuel the prophet and last of the judges, Saul the first king of Israel, and then Saul's successor, David. The online Bible Study class I attend is currently studying the riches of this book.
As a boy serving in the temple, Samuel is awakened by a voice calling his name. Not once, not twice, not three times but FOUR times. Scripture clearly states that Samuel did not yet know the Lord. I've read this story countless times over the years but this time I said to myself I hope when the Lord wakes me up in the middle of the night I will recognize His voice.
Care to guess what happened to me in the wee hours of the next morning?
Yeah, you guess it. I woke up in the middle of the night, 3:40 am to be exact. And said to myself I'm tired. This is crap; I have to get some sleep. And then I promptly rolled over and fell asleep. At 4:10 I again woke up, disgusted and disappointed it had only been 30 minutes. Then whilst trying to drift back into the peacefulness of sleep, saw in my mind's eye a picture of a young boy on a stone cold floor near a box with gold, that looked similar to the descriptions of the Ark of the Covenant. In my humility I had to admit that I did not recognize it was the Lord the first time he woke me up. The second time I said, "Lord, I'm listening."
The response was clear as if I heard an audible voice, and I responded without question or resistance. I rolled out of bed, got on my knees and began to pray. When the Father leads me by that Spirit tugging to pray on my knees, it is most often a time of intercessory prayer. And this moment was no exception. In the several weeks prior to this event, I had three family friends pass from this life onto the next. I began praying for their families and their friends, asking the Lord to comfort and strengthen them during this time of loss. I gave thanks for their examples in life and faith that they provided for those whom they loved. The whole prayer lasted maybe 10 or 15 minutes, then I returned to bed and my slumber, easily, quickly, and without regret - knowing this time, I had heard and obeyed the Lord.
The next morning I would find out, that yet another loved one had lost someone they loved around the exact moments I was praying. And while my prayers were not specific for that particular loved one, they were prayers for those grieving - and I believe that God was having me pray for many more than even I realized, during that moment.
Hills and Valleys
Fast forward three days. Saturday. I attended a beautiful ordination service of a friend I worked with 20 plus years ago at Seneca Hills Bible Conference. He was ordained there, as he is now the camp's Executive Director (more on that in the second part of this series). Later that evening I trekked to my own church for an ice cream social geared toward meeting the candidate our Pastoral Nominating Committee was presenting to the congregation as our potential new full time pastor. (also more on that in part 2). It was a full day and I was exhausted. The following day's worship service needed to represent who we are as a church, who the candidate is as a teacher and leader, and as the Director of Music, I was trying to make sure that everyone got represented properly and effectively.
About two weeks earlier my friend and co-worker came to me and said, "I have a song I think you should sing sometime for worship." I listened to the song and yes, I should sing that song and I will sing it when we have the new guy coming to candidate. The song is written and recorded by Tauren Wells entitled Hills and Valleys. It was perfect because it talks about the rough times and the good times and God always being present. It had been nearly 26 months since our former pastor had retired and we as a congregation certainly had experienced hills and valleys, but the Lord was always with us. The song also reminds me of the passage from Isaiah that assures us every valley will be exalted and every hill made low, the crooked made straight and the rough places plain.
And lo, Sunday morning 3:10 am once again I was awakened. Determined not to make the same mistake of days earlier I began to leave my bed to again pray on my knees. But that was not to be this time. No, that's not what this is about. I heard within the rumblings of my soul, Let's wrestle.
Wrestling with the Lord is not something I regularly enjoy. It's hard work, it's emotional work, and it's tiring work. God brought up several issues and circumstances from my past. Things I often years later continue to process and see how God is still using them to grow me more like Him. He showed me the hills and reminded me more often of the valleys in my own journey. The experience was tumultuous to say the very least. So by the time 11:45 rolls around, I have now been awake and exhausted for over eight hours, realizing in the moments of the song that my guards were completely down. You know what I mean right? Those guarded walls we place over our feelings, the sacred and often deeply scared places of our souls to protect ourselves from the cold, hard world wanting to attack or overtake us? In fact, they weren't just down; they were gone. I was too tired, too emotionally spent to sing the song in anyway except with pure, raw, vulnerability. But the song ministered to people. They heard the realness - the suffering, and the joy of the Lord always being with me - through my voice.
None of that would have occurred had I ignored the Lord when He called in the middle of the night. Perhaps no one would have been touched, if I had not surrendered to what He wanted.
Prayers and the Pray-ers
All those examples occurred nearly a month ago. Last night, 2:50 am on a Sunday morning I awoke with an image in my mind. The face of a friend - and I prayed earnestly for the friend. This happens to me frequently where I will be aroused from my slumber with the image of a friend seared in my mind's eye. Generally, the only way to find peace and rest is to pray for the person. It could be a friend or family I love deeply; it could be someone I hardly know; it could be someone I can't even stand to be around, or in one particular instance I prayed for a celebrity musician who's music I would not recognize if it were played for me. Keep watching - I truly believe that the Lord is going to do some mighty things through that musician. Sometimes I will let them know I have prayed for them, sometimes I keep it to myself. But God knows. More importantly, He hears.
A suggestion was made to me that perhaps, the reason God wakes us in the wee hours of the day is because that's the only time we are quiet and still enough to listen. How sad is that? We miss so much during the "active" hours of our day. Our service becomes our god, and we too busy with what we believe is his grand work. That's when we serve our idea of him instead of actually serving Him.
How then do we know when He is calling? When we have the courage and the intelligence to say "Lord, is that you? Your servant is listening." Then and only then will we listen as He separates our desires from His, allowing us to find His voice leading through the valley, up the hillside, to gaze at the glorious view from the hilltop.
Prayer is not only talking to but listening for the Lord.
Listen my beloved friends. He is calling to you. Do you hear?
May God bless you on your journey!
..."Speak for Your servant is listening." 1 Samuel 3:10
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| ©PacificPress/licensed from GoodSalt.com |
As a boy serving in the temple, Samuel is awakened by a voice calling his name. Not once, not twice, not three times but FOUR times. Scripture clearly states that Samuel did not yet know the Lord. I've read this story countless times over the years but this time I said to myself I hope when the Lord wakes me up in the middle of the night I will recognize His voice.
Care to guess what happened to me in the wee hours of the next morning?
Yeah, you guess it. I woke up in the middle of the night, 3:40 am to be exact. And said to myself I'm tired. This is crap; I have to get some sleep. And then I promptly rolled over and fell asleep. At 4:10 I again woke up, disgusted and disappointed it had only been 30 minutes. Then whilst trying to drift back into the peacefulness of sleep, saw in my mind's eye a picture of a young boy on a stone cold floor near a box with gold, that looked similar to the descriptions of the Ark of the Covenant. In my humility I had to admit that I did not recognize it was the Lord the first time he woke me up. The second time I said, "Lord, I'm listening."
The response was clear as if I heard an audible voice, and I responded without question or resistance. I rolled out of bed, got on my knees and began to pray. When the Father leads me by that Spirit tugging to pray on my knees, it is most often a time of intercessory prayer. And this moment was no exception. In the several weeks prior to this event, I had three family friends pass from this life onto the next. I began praying for their families and their friends, asking the Lord to comfort and strengthen them during this time of loss. I gave thanks for their examples in life and faith that they provided for those whom they loved. The whole prayer lasted maybe 10 or 15 minutes, then I returned to bed and my slumber, easily, quickly, and without regret - knowing this time, I had heard and obeyed the Lord.
The next morning I would find out, that yet another loved one had lost someone they loved around the exact moments I was praying. And while my prayers were not specific for that particular loved one, they were prayers for those grieving - and I believe that God was having me pray for many more than even I realized, during that moment.
Hills and Valleys
Fast forward three days. Saturday. I attended a beautiful ordination service of a friend I worked with 20 plus years ago at Seneca Hills Bible Conference. He was ordained there, as he is now the camp's Executive Director (more on that in the second part of this series). Later that evening I trekked to my own church for an ice cream social geared toward meeting the candidate our Pastoral Nominating Committee was presenting to the congregation as our potential new full time pastor. (also more on that in part 2). It was a full day and I was exhausted. The following day's worship service needed to represent who we are as a church, who the candidate is as a teacher and leader, and as the Director of Music, I was trying to make sure that everyone got represented properly and effectively.
About two weeks earlier my friend and co-worker came to me and said, "I have a song I think you should sing sometime for worship." I listened to the song and yes, I should sing that song and I will sing it when we have the new guy coming to candidate. The song is written and recorded by Tauren Wells entitled Hills and Valleys. It was perfect because it talks about the rough times and the good times and God always being present. It had been nearly 26 months since our former pastor had retired and we as a congregation certainly had experienced hills and valleys, but the Lord was always with us. The song also reminds me of the passage from Isaiah that assures us every valley will be exalted and every hill made low, the crooked made straight and the rough places plain.
And lo, Sunday morning 3:10 am once again I was awakened. Determined not to make the same mistake of days earlier I began to leave my bed to again pray on my knees. But that was not to be this time. No, that's not what this is about. I heard within the rumblings of my soul, Let's wrestle.
Wrestling with the Lord is not something I regularly enjoy. It's hard work, it's emotional work, and it's tiring work. God brought up several issues and circumstances from my past. Things I often years later continue to process and see how God is still using them to grow me more like Him. He showed me the hills and reminded me more often of the valleys in my own journey. The experience was tumultuous to say the very least. So by the time 11:45 rolls around, I have now been awake and exhausted for over eight hours, realizing in the moments of the song that my guards were completely down. You know what I mean right? Those guarded walls we place over our feelings, the sacred and often deeply scared places of our souls to protect ourselves from the cold, hard world wanting to attack or overtake us? In fact, they weren't just down; they were gone. I was too tired, too emotionally spent to sing the song in anyway except with pure, raw, vulnerability. But the song ministered to people. They heard the realness - the suffering, and the joy of the Lord always being with me - through my voice.
None of that would have occurred had I ignored the Lord when He called in the middle of the night. Perhaps no one would have been touched, if I had not surrendered to what He wanted.
Prayers and the Pray-ers
All those examples occurred nearly a month ago. Last night, 2:50 am on a Sunday morning I awoke with an image in my mind. The face of a friend - and I prayed earnestly for the friend. This happens to me frequently where I will be aroused from my slumber with the image of a friend seared in my mind's eye. Generally, the only way to find peace and rest is to pray for the person. It could be a friend or family I love deeply; it could be someone I hardly know; it could be someone I can't even stand to be around, or in one particular instance I prayed for a celebrity musician who's music I would not recognize if it were played for me. Keep watching - I truly believe that the Lord is going to do some mighty things through that musician. Sometimes I will let them know I have prayed for them, sometimes I keep it to myself. But God knows. More importantly, He hears.
A suggestion was made to me that perhaps, the reason God wakes us in the wee hours of the day is because that's the only time we are quiet and still enough to listen. How sad is that? We miss so much during the "active" hours of our day. Our service becomes our god, and we too busy with what we believe is his grand work. That's when we serve our idea of him instead of actually serving Him.
How then do we know when He is calling? When we have the courage and the intelligence to say "Lord, is that you? Your servant is listening." Then and only then will we listen as He separates our desires from His, allowing us to find His voice leading through the valley, up the hillside, to gaze at the glorious view from the hilltop.
 |
| ©John Baker/licensed from GoodSalt.com |
Listen my beloved friends. He is calling to you. Do you hear?
May God bless you on your journey!
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