Hearing God is always difficult. Those that say they hear from God clearly, actually worry me. If you are one of those confident folks, then I love you and please don't misunderstand me. I have been very clear about God's direction sometimes in my life. Other times, I have thought I was clear, when I wasn't. In other words, I thought I heard God's direction and then something didn't turn out the way I thought it would, so I wasn't so sure anymore. Sometimes it just takes time to realize you heard God.
A few years ago I attended a conference and while there I heard a presenter, Dr. Anthony Bradley, share some thoughts on the church in exile. The one thing Dr. Bradley said that impacted me was that we often cannot see how our life is part of God's bigger picture. I have found this to be so true in my journey with God. As I have attempted to hear and follow God's leading and direction it has sometimes seemed really crazy. Or I couldn't see anyway it fit. But hearing God is crazy, if you think about it. But, that's how faith works.
One example is a call to prayer that I experienced in my life when pastoring in Seattle. I was praying for our community through regular drives and walks and found out about the history of a large church building which had at one point had over 3000 people in weekly attendance. At that time it had 50 in this huge building. I believed God wanted me to start praying over that building so I did. I met with the Pastor to encourage him and our churches had some shared services to encourage one another. After a few years my church went through a transition and that church did also.
But then God did something several years later and at the point that little church was ready to close, He rebirthed it and it continues today. I did not know how that would look or how it would unfold but I thought I heard God and so I tried to follow his direction.
I have for many years taught that faith is defined as, "beliefs trusted to the point of action." According to James, "faith is dead without works" or fruit or action, depending on how you want to say it. The issue with faith isn't beliefs, it's trust. Trust is the power switch that turns beliefs into actions. This is where Christian's so often struggle. Will I trust God enough to act out His word faithfully?
I have wrestled with trust issues most of my life and so if that is hard for you, join the club. I know from my experience talking with hundreds of people it is a very large club. It has been easy to trust God with some things, but not others, and this is the process that we are all in. If you want to understand the trust issue more and why it's so hard, just read the Genesis description of Adam and Eve. Notice how slowly and deceptively Satan breaks down their trust in what God told them about the Tree of Knowledge. Broken trust started right there and is something we got handed to us from birth.
When we seek to hear God through prayer or reading the word, or the counsel and wisdom of other Christians in our lives, we are hit in the soul with the trust issue. Is this God? our mind asks, or my pizza last night. No disrespect intended. It can be that crazy at times. Hearing God that is, not pizza.
Sometimes Christian leaders have the hardest time with the idea of hearing God, because they are looked to by others for that very purpose. Christian leaders are put on a pedestal due to their education and experience. Part of our journey as leaders is coming to grips with the fact that our best effort in hearing God, is just that - our best effort. When we accept this fact, it humbles us. It keeps us listening and dependent on His grace in the times when things aren't what we thought they would be. Sometimes we will hear God and see results that match what we heard. Sometimes we will hear God and act on it faithfully, but the answer will be much later. Sometimes we have to act faithfully and let our faith be part of God's bigger picture as Dr. Bradley was describing and my prayer story involved.
I believe when we stand before Jesus, everything will be come clear. We will probably see when we got it right and the other self-righteous points where we wanted our way under the pretense of obeying God. Or when we said, "God told me," or acted out as though we "knew God's will on the matter" when we didn't.
I am glad that God's grace covers all those times I get it wrong.
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