Sometimes hearing requires waiting.

I am not by nature a patient person. I am not particularly fond of waiting. Pleasant thoughts do not bombard my conscious mind every time I have to wait; whether it's in a line at a store, for a traffic light to change, for the next spot in the arena restroom to come open, or for my wife to finish dressing. That is about as kindly as I can describe myself any time I am required to wait.

Decades of experience tell me that waiting is a necessary element of any life, and I have yet to accept it for what it is or learned to endure it well - much less to enjoy the process.

We were speaking in the last entry about hearing God's voice. That process requires listening. In my experience it also frequently requires waiting. How foolish it is of me to be surprised by this discovery!

The psalmists understood this process. "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." (Ps. 27:14) "Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes." (Ps. 37:7) "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him." (Ps 62:5) "I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning." (Ps. 130:5-6)

Through the prophet Isaiah God declared "Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame." (Isa. 49:23) And Jeremiah (Ch.14:22) declares, "Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? Therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things."

Holy scripture repeatedly encourages us to wait on God, to trust Him while we wait, and when the time is right He will perform what needs to be done and will reveal to us what we need to know.
Even more surprising is the fact that God actually waits on us. "And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him." (Isa 30:18)

How arrogant I must be! I grow impatient waiting for God to answer my questions or to solve my problems, as though the one who created the universe should be my servant or owe me anything. Yet in spit of my arrogance He is waiting on me; waiting for me to be ready to receive the mercy He has in store for me!

Perhaps we should wait a bit longer while that sinks in.  While I am being impatient, fretful or even angry, God is waiting on me so he can show me His mercy! 

I Must Listen For His Voice

Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." (John 10:27)

A friend recently related to me how he had shouted down a fundamentalist (I believe he called the person "a right winger Christian") by asking him, since the other guy said he took The Bible literally, "How does it feel to be a sheep?" I saw no need to respond at the time. My friend was in transmit mode and his receiving program appeared to be shut down at that moment. The fact that I did not try to reason (okay, I wanted to argue with him, I admit it!) is a small miracle in itself. Instead, I contemplated my friends story. Later that evening after I had decided that it felt quite nice to be a sheep, I almost called my friend to thank him but I realized I still just wanted to argue with him.

How wonderful it is to be a sheep! I do not have to know the answers. I do not have to understand how things work or why they happen. I do not have to be able to explain anything to anybody. I am not responsible for their enlightenment. All I have to do is hear my master's voice and follow it where ever it leads me.

I will try to revisit this in a few days. For now, it might help us all to contemplate this process from our individual perspectives.