Listening to God

I ask things of God all the time. I thank Him for things too. I can talk to God all day long, but I started to wonder how often I stop and listen to what He has to say to me.

"My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understand - indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God." 

- Proverbs 2:1-5

God has important things to tell us. It's not always easy to hear. He doesn't yell things at us like we may want Him to. Most of the time it's more like a whisper, and if we're not waiting and listening we might miss it. Even if it's not always easy Psalm 29 talks about how powerful the Lord's voice is. The Lord's voice breaks the cedars (v. 5), strikes like lightning (v. 7), and shakes the desert (v. 8). So even when it takes attentiveness to hear what He is saying it's important that we still pay attention because what He says is incredibly powerful.

I had the privilege of spending last week in Mexico, where I had the opportunity to disconnect from everything at home. No texting, no calling, no Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram…nothing. (I recommend that everyone tries this for a week sometime!) I just enjoyed who I was with and where I was at. More importantly enjoyed time with God.

I have some important decisions coming my way and it's important to me that I hear from God for when I have to make these decisions. Only on a few occasions have I felt as though God was posting the answer on a billboard with flashing lights and sirens around it. I can't expect Him to do that every time I have an important choice to make. So I took advantage of my time in Mexico to get rid of the distractions of classes, friends, and social media and I listened for God.

Being in a place like Cozumel, Mexico it is easy to appreciate God and see Him everywhere. I saw God in the blue sky, the crystal clear water, the warm breeze on the beach, the glow of the trees at dusk, the colors of the sunset over the ocean, and the light of the moon and stars. It seemed impossible to not be able to hear God's voice in a place like that. However, it was harder than I thought.

I've always struggled with patience. I am someone who wants things to happen in my timing. The problem with this is that God's timing tends to be different than mine. And His timing is perfect and better than mine is. That means that I didn't get all of the answers I was looking for during my week in Mexico. I got a little more insight on some things but not definite answers. The things I did get answers for weren't the answers I would have preferred. That's what's hard - we're not always going to hear what we want to hear from God. He has His plan and we have ours, and unfortunately they don't always overlap. So I can hear what God is saying, not like the answer, and decide to do it my way instead or I can trust in how He is working in my life, because His way will ultimately prevail anyways. God tells us that He has a plan for good for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11), but that doesn't mean it's going to be perfect and happy all the time. Things will be really hard and we will struggle, but He can use that struggle for good. Some of the most heartbreaking things that have completely shattered my world have been used for some of my greatest kingdom work. Even when God brings things that challenge us and push us to our limits, we can know that He is using us and using our situation while He grows us into the people He wants us to be.

As for the answers I didn't get, it is going to take more prayer and more listening. I can't always go to Mexico for a week every time I need answers. I need to work on hearing God's voice in the midst of the stress and chaos of every day life. As I discussed before, I also need to be patient and wait for God to reveal to me what my next step is. He will show me in His time, not mine, and I need to continue to be attentive to Him so I don't miss it when it comes.

There are going to be times when the answer that we want is the answer that God gives us. He knows the desires of our hearts and will not neglect them. But whether we get the answer we want, get the answer we don't want, or must wait a little longer for an answer we should continue to praise God for all that He has done for us and all that He is doing and will do.