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Posted in Church God Faith
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God speaks to us. That's a no-brainer, right? Well, not when you have been in a spiritual drought. When the Israelites were in slavery for 400 years, and suddenly Moses showed up and says Oh yeah, God says "Let My People Go!" I imagine the Hebrew people were pretty excited. For 400 years, they had waited, crying out to God for deliverance, and suddenly God Spoke. Likewise the silence of God after Malachi. Again, 400 years of silence and then an angel says oh btw there's a baby coming. (loosely translated) And then the Word became flesh and God spoke in an amazing and dramatic way through the Incarnation and ultimately on the cross. Granted, a whole lot of history happened in between. (We are surrently between Malachi and Jesus in our history studies. Fascinating stuff.) Condensed version: God was using Alexander the Great and the Greeks and Romans to prepare the world for the Messiah. As if deliverance weren't exciting news enough (first through Moses and then through the long-awaited Messiah), imagine how exciting it was to the ones who had not heard from God in 400 years! The good news is, He still speaks to us today. Sometimes there may be a period of silence-- perhaps there is sin in our lives or distractions, or sometimes it is not that, but God is preparing us to receive what is next. But He does speak to us. "When the well's dry, we know the worth of water." -- Benjamin Franklin, 1746 In light of my own recent spiritual drought, it is very touching and humbling that God would speak to me. I feel very unworthy, but very very grateful. Last Sunday morning, I was under conviction during the sermon, but when the altar call came, I didn't move. I was too afraid? embarrassed? I was praying and asking God a very specific and personal question, when all of a sudden Pastor LeBron paused the singing and started talking. He mentioned the word that I was asking God about (and it wasn't something you would necessarily expect him to say. Just imagine I was talking to God about a coconut and suddenly LeBron said something about coconuts-- it was like that, only spiritual.) Nevertheless, I stayed in my pew and disobeyed the Spirit's prompting to go down and get things right with Him. I couldn't let it go, though, so I later emailed Pastor LeBron and let him know that I was under conviction and asked for his prayers. And I repented and prayed and studied my Bible and prayed some more. I shared my struggles with a friend (also a PW) and she comforted me because she has been there. That night I read in 2 Corinthians 1: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." She was able to comfort me because she had been comforted-- and it's right there in God's Word. :)
Then I posted about keeping God at a distance and asked questions about authenticity and how real should I be? And that night while reading my Bible, this is what I read: Psalm 40
1 I waited patiently for the Lord (actually He was waiting patiently for me);
He turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
Out of the mud and mire;
He set my feet on a rock
And gave me a firm place to stand...
...
9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips, as you know, O Lord.
10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.
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I am not saying that this passage means everyone has to tell everything to everybody--- but it was clear that God was speaking to me and saying that I should declare His goodness and His faithfulness. And so here I am, declaring it. I tend to be a private person but I don't want to miss a chance to tell how faithful He is, even if doing so reveals how faithless I am.
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