And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 1 Corinthians 15:49

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Be Still And Know!

A comedian talks about pricey mattresses advertised for sale, offering the best night's sleep. He asks, "Who can't fall asleep? I fell asleep on a ladder once!"  I think that is what works for me too. My wife likes to sleep with the fan running. She calls it "white noise", I just call it noise! Some nights it still is a difficult thing for me to ignore when I am trying to fall asleep. I am convinced that some nights it is just being tired enough to fall asleep on a ladder that allows me to eventually block out the noise, and succumb to sleep.
 
But sleeping habits is not the purpose of this post, rather the need that many people have for a constant barrage of noise attacking their auditory sensors! You have seen it, kids especially, walking down the street with headphones on listening to music. Heck, there is hardly anyplace you can go where there is not some sort of noise trying to get your attention! Go into a restaurant... music. Go into a mall... music. Go into an elevator... MUSIC! It does not even matter if you like the style of music playing, you are being forced to listen to it. Cars driving down the street with music blaring. Sports games filled with noise, not just from the game itself, but a baseball game I went to with my dad last week had sound effects playing during lulls in the game. I guess maybe golf might still be quiet?

So far, you might think I am against music! Well, I am not. The point is constant noise! Even I bought a portable Sirius radio, that I can take with me in the truck at work while I am on a long drive to pass the time. The radio broke recently, and in the time getting one to replace it, I had many quiet days in the truck. It was during those times that it became obvious how hard it was to drive in silence, (not counting the road noise). I was trying to block out the silence without a radio! At the same time, I discovered the purpose of this post!

In my last post, I mentioned hearing a verse in my Spirit while I was in the shower, and that it happens often for some reason. I have a couple theories, but the one pertinent to this post is that it is one of the few times that God can get my attention! When I used to sleep without a fan blowing, then it was often in the time between being conscience and sub-conscience, that I would ponder many of the spiritual mysteries.

How often have we said how much we wish God would talk to us? "I want to hear from God." "I want to know what He want's me to do with my life." "I wish I knew why a certain thing happened?" "What does a particular passage in the bible mean?" "What do I do about a certain person who I don't get along with?" This is just a sample of questions to get you to come up with your own list, and then to have you ask yourself..... Are you listening for His answer?

Or are you so bombarded with noise, that you cannot hear Him? The fact is that He can shout above all of your noise and get your attention, but it seems to me that it is us who needs the quiet to hear clearly with our spiritual ears. It is my conviction that most people bombard themselves with noise to drown out the chance that God would speak to them, because they are not interested in hearing Him, because they are afraid of what they have heard about what God is like from Christians who are misrepresenting Him as some vengeful Dictator! Not much different than sticking your fingers in your ears and going, "la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.... to drown out someone telling you something you want to ignore!

Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." There is a first thing, to get to the second thing. Be still first, and get to KNOW secondly! The result is a rippling effect where God will then be exalted not just by us, but among the heathen!

I Kings 19:11,12  " And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

Like I said, God can shout to get your attention if He chooses, but it is my experience that He will tell you His intimate secrets in a whisper. I sure like being one that He feels free to whisper His secrets to, and I  too find myself easily pulled by the distractions of life. I listen to the radio too much. I watch too much T.V. I read the paper, instead of the bible! I do crosswords, instead of studying His Word.

To be honest, I began doing some of these things on purpose because I was trying to distract myself from hearing from God, because I could not find an outlet to express what was being bottled up inside! From a couple of years after I became a Christian, I felt like God was calling me to preach, and while I spent years studying to pursue that calling, other than teaching some bible studies, nothing much came of it. Even this blog is somewhat of an outlet for me to let off some Spiritual steam so to speak. ha.

That is part of the reason for some of the long delays in posting. But, sometimes I do become aware that I miss Him! I am reminded by inner nudges that He misses me too. But I want more! That has always been my hearts desire.... more of HIM! More, more, more! Even when I don't, I really do! I notice it most when I am willing to  Be Still And Know!

Friday, June 29, 2012

Being Led Into The Wilderness!

Recently, it came to the forefront of my thinking where it seems like quite some time has past that life has been going rather smoothly! No major disasters to contend with. No financial collapses. No pestilence or plagues. Okay, that is a little over the top, but you get my drift. I am not talking on a world stage here, I am talking personally. The stormy seas have been calm, and things are going pretty good. Not that we won a million dollars or anything, but no major problems to deal with either.

The funny thing is that when I considered that, I also had the same gut reaction that my wife had when I mentioned it to her. "Oh man, I should not have said anything, now that ruins it, and something bad will probably happen!" It is like we were only safe, as long as we did not notice it, or say it out loud! ha!

At the same time as I was thinking how tranquil life has been for a pleasant change, a verse for this subject came to mind  while I was in the shower,(for some reason that happens a lot). The verse is found in Matthew 4:1 "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil."

The first thing to take note of in this verse, is that which is not usually considered. Jesus was NOT led into the wilderness by the devil. It was the SPIRIT that LED Jesus into the wilderness for the express purpose that He would be tempted by the devil! Ponder that for a moment......

Religion teaches a reward and punishment system of God's way of dealing with mankind. It is the Religious system's way of explaining everything in the Bible, and every action on earth. As far as they are concerned it is okay if bad things happen to bad people, but impossible to understand if good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to "so called" good people. Read Psalm 73 for good insight to this.

It is easy for many to believe when we are going through difficult times that God is busy elsewhere! It is so common for many to think that God uses our troubles as punishments for something that we did, or did not do, though many times our own actions bring positive or negative consequences of their own. In other words the reaping and sowing principle.

In my younger spiritual days, I honestly thought that when I slipped and stepped into a pit of scalding water causing 3rd degree burns on my leg, that God allowed it to happen because I smoked cigarettes! How foolish! Even more so, if you really think about it, how slanderous against the character of our Creator!
Of course we do have a desire to know why.

More important is what is our motive behind the question why? I once read a quote that said, "A son never has to ask why." The meaning behind the quote is that with maturity comes understanding. A child is naturally self centered. Everything revolves around their own needs and wants. It takes maturity to grow out of it... maturity not age... and to begin thinking of others.

A child will always question why. They will always want to know why they can't have their way. Some times a parent will just say "Because I said so, that's why!" It does not solve their selfishness, but it does end the discussion. A son doesn't need to even have the discussion because he has learned that his father loves him, and whatever decision the father has made comes from a heart of love and is for his own good, and that many times the father has more information to base his decision on than the son knows.

All that the son needs to know is that the father loves him. As you can see already, all that we should need to know is that our Heavenly Father loves us! We say we know, but knowing because you read it, or have been told it, or even say it out loud is much different than knowing it experiencially! We learn it experiencially with our earthly father. We learn it experiencially with our Heavenly Father too!

Jesus had just come out of the river Jordan from being baptized, and having a voice that only some recognized saying, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased!" That is all he needed to know to withstand any testing he was to go through during the next 40 days. Testing lets you know what you are made of. How many times have you heard someone say, or even said yourself, "I don't know what I would have done in a particular situation."? We never know until we are put into a situation what our reaction will be. If our life, or our comfort, or our reputation is at stake, will that divert our actions away from our beliefs?

What better way to find out than in the wilderness? Tired, stressed, behind schedule; what better way to find out what you are made of than when your defenses are down? Jesus had fasted for 40 days, and was very hungry.

No one looks forward to going through difficult and uncomfortable times. And to be honest, I would like to see this easier time of rest from the struggle of daily living continue. But one thing that has happened over these many years of relationship with my Father, is that I have matured some, I am more of a son than ever before, so I am learning more to trust His love for me, when the time comes, as I am once again Being Led Into The Wilderness!