Hearing God Speak

As we prepare to launch into another year one of the best things we can decide to do is to get serious about our relationship with God.    I love this article written by Tim Chester, originally for a great new initiative called Open up the Bible.  www.openupthebible.com    He's right on the money.  

Let me tell you about an amazing experience I had just this morning. Actually “amazing” doesn’t really do it justice. It was out of this world.

This morning God spoke to me.

I know that sounds weird, but I’m sure that’s what happened. The God who made the universe actually spoke to me. I could hear what He was saying just as clearly as you can understand what you’re reading now.

The words He spoke felt like words of life to me.

It was like they resounded deep in my heart.

• There were words of instruction that helped me know Him more and understand his ways.
• There were words of challenge that called me to follow Him better and love Him more.
• There were words of comfort that spoke to my needs and gave me hope. It was like medicine to my soul. It was like a rousing speech before battle. It was like a love song sung to my heart.

But there’s more. Just as God spoke to me, so I spoke to Him. I spoke to Him as someone might speak to their friend. It was like a conversation. He talked to me and I talked to Him. I was able to express my deep appreciation for the words He’d spoken to me. I told Him how I planned to respond. I told Him about my needs and my hopes. I asked for his help, not just for me, but for people I know. I lamented the sorry mess we’ve made of his beautiful world and asked Him to have mercy on specific situations that are weighing heavily on my heart.

I spoke to the God of the universe and He heard me. He listened to what I was saying. And He promised to respond. I don’t know whether He’ll do what I ask. He might have other plans, better plans. But I’m confident He heard me and that He’ll respond in whatever way He thinks best.

What’s more, what happened to me this morning was not a freaky, one-off experience. This happens to me most mornings.

What I did this morning was read my Bible and pray. I just read my Bible and prayed. But there is nothing “just” about just reading your Bible. It really is all that I’ve described. It really is the most amazing, out-of-this-world experience. Every time you read your Bible God really is speaking to you—medicine to the soul, a rousing speech before battle, a love song sung to your heart.

The Holy Spirit spoke through the human authors of the Bible. He ensured that what they wrote truly was the word of God. Their words were God-breathed. So the Bible is the reliable, accurate, sufficient word from God. God has spoken.

But the Holy Spirit is also at work whenever the Bible is read or heard.

He takes the words that were recorded long ago and makes them live afresh. The letter of Hebrews, quoting from the Old Testament, says, “as the Holy Spirit says” (3v7). God has not only spoken in the Bible (past tense). He also speaks through the Bible (present tense).

God speaks to you every time you read the Bible. Personally. Intimately.

I read my Bible regularly because I have to. Not “have to” in the sense that someone might criticise me if I don’t or that God will get miffed with me. But “have to” in the same way I have to eat food every day. This is how I live.

Without God’s word in my life, I too readily get preoccupied with myself, my fears, my insecurities, my reputation. Without God’s word I’m so much more vulnerable to temptation. I need God’s word to realign my heart day by day towards Jesus. I need that medicine for the soul, that battle speech, that love song. And I need it every day.

"I Can't Breathe"

I've just read this from James Emery White who leads a church in the States and who coaches Christians on how to engage more thoughtfully with contemporary culture.  His blog really caught my attention as it gave expression to thoughts that I and perhaps you have had.  

There would be few reading this unaware of the events in Ferguson, Missouri, regarding the shooting death by a police officer of Michael Brown. This was quickly followed by the asphyxiation of Eric Garner in New York as a result of a chokehold during an arrest.

Neither case resulted in a grand jury indicting the officer involved.

Many lumped the two together, but I did not. To my thinking, they were very, very different. Apparently I’m not alone. A USA Today poll found that most Americans supported the Brown decision, but not the Garner decision.

I don’t want to get into the racial elements.

I don’t want to get into the pros and cons of grand jury indictments.

I don’t want to get into the perils of resisting arrest.

I don’t want to get into the difficulties and challenges of police work.

I only want to get into one thing:

“I can’t breathe.”

It’s said a picture is worth a thousand words. If so, a video must be worth ten thousand. Or in this case, an extremely potent three. If you saw it, you know that those three words were repeated eight times. And after he was on the ground, held down by multiple other men, and being handcuffed.

“I can’t breathe.”

I don’t care if he resisted arrest.

I don’t care if he weighed 300 or more pounds.

I don’t care if he had a criminal history.

At the time of the arrest, all I care about are those three words.

“I can’t breathe.”

Why?

Because I am a follower of Christ. I am a follower of Christ before I am a member of a political party, before I am a cultural “conservative” or “liberal,” and certainly before I am either “black” or “white.”

And as a follower of Christ, I understand every human being to be someone made in the very image of God and of immeasurable worth to their Father.

The color of their skin does not matter.

Their arrest record does not matter.

Their non-lethal resistance to arrest does not matter.

What matters is their “imago dei.” The image of God reflected in their very soul. And no human being should have been handled that way, much less in that situation.

Period.

And this includes the breaking news of the extent of torture carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency. [I couldn’t help but think of the connection between water-boarding and a chokehold – both are acts on another that keep them from breathing.] It doesn’t matter whether such acts fell short of a legal definition of torture, or whether they were effective.

Torture is simply wrong. Why? Because no human being, made in the image of God, should be treated that way.

Period.

As I watched the video of Eric Garner’s arrest, I could only imagine one of my sons, resisting arrest for whatever stupid or miscalculated reason, who then found himself thrown to the ground and fighting for air.

And dying.

Dear God. I can barely sustain the thought.

So whatever needs to happen to address racism in our land,

     ...and the great evil is that it does thrive;

...whatever needs to happen to uphold justice,

     ...and only a naïve observer would assume it flows freely;

…whatever needs to happen to support police in their responsibilities, not to mention rid police forces of rogue elements,

     …and both must be pursued;

…whatever needs to happen to end all affronts to the worth and dignity of human beings as made in the image of God;

Whatever needs to happen, until it does,

    …for Christ’s sake,

    …let them breathe.