He speaks

One morning during chapel last year, a mom leaned over to me and said that she didn't think that God talked to people anymore. I looked at her. "What?" she said. "God talks to you?"

Yep. Not in an audible voice. But God speaks to me. He is a God to whom speaking and communicating is vastly important.

The Bible opens with God speaking the universe into creation and ends with Jesus, the Word of God, speaking a promise to return to earth. And all throughout Scripture God speaks. And he hasn't stopped.

I came across this quote from Karl Barth in one of my Advent books, Watch for the Light, this morning:

"...the living word of God is available to us. It is a word that, in contrast to all human words, is clear, intelligible and unambiguous."

While at times God clearly impresses something on my heart or tells me something I couldn't possibly know on my own, God speaks to me primarily through the Bible, his Word. 

So often, we don't think God speaks because we're not in the Word. We can't hear if we don't listen, and we listen by spending time in the Word. If we want to hear God's voice, we must read our Bibles.

I don't believe in coincidences. And yesterday's reading from Ezekiel 34 was so clearly God speaking to me, because it talked exactly about being scattered:

For this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. (Ezekiel 34:11-16, emphasis mine)

Remember this? This has been a scattered week for me--a hard and painful week that began with a "day of clouds and darkness." And yet in the midst of it all, I'm hearing that God is at work. It's hard because Satan is lying his head off--loudly and smoothly--but God is at work and he has allowed this for a purpose. 

God promises to work all things for good when we love him (Romans 8:28). He uses for good what others meant for evil (Genesis 50:20). His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 2:9). His will will be done (Matthew 6:10). And just look at the list of what he will do in that passage:

For this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. (Ezekiel 34:11-16, emphasis mine)

He has plans for me--plans to give me a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). He has plans for you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. He's bringing us out of whatever danger we're in and bringing us into the land he's prepared for us. Doesn't that just thrill you? It does me. 

What are you struggling with? Is there something in your life that you're wanting to hear from God about? Do you want to know what he thinks--about you? about life? about Jesus? about the world?

Open your ears by opening your Bible. God has something to say to you.

Comments

[Susan]

A lot of times I don't want to HEAR what He has to say! He has been extremely convicting over the last few months. The fact that I am working through Jesus, 90 Days with the One and Only and it is the Advent season is no coincidence. All of my focus is on Him and what He has to say to me. Why do I always have to add, "He didn't speak to me audibly" when I tell someone that, "God told me" this or that? I'm going to stop doing that. He spoke to me. Period. It doesn't matter that I heard Him with my heart and not my ears.

I'm thankful that you are jumping into/staying in His word and listening for and to His voice. Shutting out the voice of the evil one...that's the only way to do it.

Been praying for you and thinking about you all day long.

Love and blessings, dear friend.

[Dawn W]

Amen and amen!

[angela]

Hmmm, I think that I needed that. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[Jen]

Amen Joanne! He speaks to us as He breathes life into us also. He has spoken to me over and over through many scriptures, in particular, my life verses--Jeremiah 29:11-14.

Have a great Lord's Day!
Jen

[Meredith]

thank you for this and the prayers.