“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
— Jim Elliot
“After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” — Genesis 22:1-2
We often sit around and talk about how hard it is to hear G_d speak.
Might i be so bold as to say… We can hear Him.
G_d speaks to people. It is so pervasive in the Bible, that the Bible treats it as self-evident. In the same way that it does not explain what “daytime” means, it does not describe or defend the phenomenon beyond simple terms like: “God said to,” “The LORD spoke…,” “The Spirit said…”
A partial list of people to whom G_d has spoken directly:
- Adam
- Eve
- Satan
- Cain
- Noah
- Job
- Eliphaz
- Abraham
- Rebekah
- Jacob
- Moses
- Aaron
- Joshua
- Balaam
- Gideon
- Manoah
- Phinehas
- Samuel
- David
- Solomon
- Elijah
- Micaiah
- Jehu
- Isaiah
- Jeremiah
- Ezekiel
- Daniel
- Hosea
- Amos
- Jonah
- Zechariah
- Zerubbabel
- Philip
- Peter
- Barnabas
- Simeon (Niger)
- Lucius of Cyrene
- Manaen
- Saul
- Paul
- John
- The churches
- And…. You
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years. ”
— Hebrews 3:7-9
— Hebrews 3:7-9
So, what now?
Listen.
Then what?
Do whatever He says, no matter what. He is G_d. He gets to make the rules, call the plays, and lead those He has purchased with His blood. And, oh by the way… He is too kind to be cruel, and too wise to ever make a mistake.
What if I’m not sure it is Him?
He gave us His Word as standard against which we can measure everything. Just use that.
But what if He asks me to do something that other people will think is weird or spooky?
We will not be standing before the judgement seat of our friends (or even our enemies) on That Day. It will – most definitely – be just each of us, alone, before Him.
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
— 1 Peter 1:13-16
“Had I cared for the comments of people, I should never have been a missionary.”
– C.T. Studd
“And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives… and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.”
— Nate Saint
Thanks to Ted and Isaiah Kallman for this blog entry’s title.
