His Voice

Hearing God's voice is not something you can write a how-to book about. Its no more use writing a book about how to understand your wife. There is no way anyone will ever explain the intricacies and complexities of my wife because of the way they understand theirs. Its the same thing with the intricacies and complexities of following the voice of Jesus. He's out Jesus, all of ours, but just as richly and purely, he is my Jesus and His and my relationship is unique. Its funny how often we try to get hints from other people about how they heard God speak. Then we try to apply it to our situation and it never works out very well. "Pray every night before you go to bed! That's the best time." "Pray in the morning. Right when you wake up. Give God the first fruits of your day." "God's voice comes through quiet meditation." "God's voice comes from the voice of other people." These last few weeks, Heidi and I have been seeking the Lord. We have been wanting more and more of His wisdom, wanting His direction, wanting what He wants. But instead of trusting, listening and waiting, it has been so tempting to look at what others are doing, the way other people are serving the Lord and following Him and try to mimic that. Hey, if it worked for them, well then it will work for me. Its even more tempting to trust God's past works instead of His voice when people are so quick to be approving of ways God has worked in the past. New ways are scary for more than just you and me, but they are scary for pastors, neighbors, co-workers, bosses, supporters... But beyond all of that, there is this strange, exciting, comforting and peaceful quality to the voice of God that overcomes every uncertainty. Somehow, someway, when you hear God's voice its crazy, scary, but clear and it just seems right. Sure, you can find support or opposition for almost anything you want in the Bible, but when God speaks His words just seem...right.
God has been leading us all our lives. Sometimes the decisions we make are simple, sometimes hard and scary, but the more often we trust the quiet and clear voice Jesus, the more we see how incredible and beautiful He is and how sweet His plans are.
"the word of the Lord is right and true...the plans of the Lord stand forever" ps 33