This last blog on the subject of listening to God is actually the most difficult to write, simply because it doesn't involve theory, but practice. The real blessing of God is that he is faithful, and he helps us because of his faithfulness, not always because we are so spiritual ourselves. That means, among other things, that God is always trying to get through to us, even when we aren't listening specially well--even when we aren't being particularly intentional about it. This doesn't mean that we will hear what he is saying without stopping and listening, but that He is always attempting to reach us. So how does this work in real time?
Sometimes, as was the case for me this morning, reading Scripture reminds us of some one of the truths of God that He wants to apply to our lives. This is a pretty direct means. It also means that we need 1) to read the Bible, 2) be expectant and open when we. We have addressed this in previous blogs. For me, this morning, it was a word from Ps. 73 which challenged me to stop being envious of what I don't have and start realizing (for the millionth time I suppose) that God is enough. Does the text say "God is enough?" Not exactly like that, but in a very clear fashion, it makes that point. I have to realize that I am envious and admit it for me to hear what God is saying to me here. So listening requires honesty on my part.
Sometimes listening is a bit stranger. I write things in the margins of my Bible--mostly because if I don't I will forget them. Since I always go back to my Bible, they are right there. For some people a journal works better, or a diary or a personal blog that no one else sees. Really organized people would probably cross reference topically . . . You get what I mean. But I am haphazard at my best! So, as I read, I saw a note scribbled across the top of the page. It was meant to remind me of a moment God spoke to me and I listened. What was curious was that the message was a secular song lyric from the 80's that just popped into my mind one day during my quiet time. But it stuck because, in spite of its origin, it's message was not only Biblical, but perfectly aimed at me at that particular time--a time when I was feeling like all I had done for the kingdom just didn't matter all that much and my life had been pointless (Yep, pastors think stupid thoughts too!) The lyrics were from an old Chicago song: "After all that we've been through, I will make it up to you, I promise you."
The practical part of this: God can take most anything and use it as a vehicle to speak to us. And He can do it by simply dropping something into our heads. But note: this has to go through the biblical sieve. Does God owe me anything? Not at all. But the message is that He will be faithful to me, He won't forget me or how my life has unfolded. Whatever is here now, isn't all there is. My favorite music is soft rock. That is where my tastes are, my experience. It is the set of lyrics that most naturally come into my mind. That is what God uses. Whatever your natural environment is, God will use that as a medium of communication. That is part of what incarnation is all about.
Friends. God speaks to us through friends. Some of the hardest conversations I have ever had to have were with friends who, in love, spoke God's corrective words into my life. And some of the greatest moments have been when friends or family have spoken God's affirming words into my life. When a loved one comes to you to speak seriously loving words into your life, whether to correct or affirm, take the position that it may be God moving them to do that. Again, it must all go through the sieve of what the Bible tells us God's voice, values and vision are. If it fits with that, then listen carefully. And give your friends a break. God isn't always speaking affirmation to us, nor always reproof. One friend, to whom I am deeply indebted, just constantly reminded me that if I really wanted to be like God, I would have to be steadfast, faithful, constant, steady and permanent! I didn't want to hear that at the time. All I really wanted to do was go away, escape, disappear, give up. And he helped me hear God's crucial word to me at the time.
Memories. This is a most delicate area. Not all memories can be trusted to be a communication from God, as they are often filled with guilt, fear, self-condemnation and other negative aspects. But not always. God has often used memories to help me find my way back to him, to help me get my head back on straight again, especially in the context of relationships. It happened this morning. A memory from when I was 5 came and reminded me that the only thing I wanted then in my life was God. Just God. When I was 5, God was enough. It reminded me that Jesus was simply right about children. Sometimes they see much more clearly than adults. And I was called back to my true goal in life. The key here is to ask God specifically: "How shall I use this memory so that I might become more like you?" This requires us to not only 'feel' the memory again, but to view it more objectively as well--to lay it before God and ask that question thoughtfully, fearlessly and with every intention of listening. Because, invariably, a thought that looks a lot like an answer will come, if you don't push it.
One last word on seemingly random thoughts. The ones that are probably most useful and most necessary to be heard are the ones that are just a name. I cannot tell you how many times a name has come to mind and I have ignored it. But when I haven't, but have followed up on it: "Your name just came into my head--I just thought of you--and I thought I should check on you and see how things are for you today"--invariably, I have found that my presence was useful to them in some way that I simply couldn't have known about. Sometimes God just drops a name into your head. Listen to that! Go investigate, be available to serve them, to minister God's loving presence to them in whatever situation they find themselves.
This is no book on the subject, but a thoughtful blog on an important aspect of Christian living that is still in process of being worked through by the author, who continues to struggle with listening to God effectively and consistently himself. God bless you richly as you listen.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Listening To God Pt. 3
I have been claiming that to listen to God, a person needs to "buy into" the idea that God has spoken in and through Jesus. This idea carries with it a second idea--that we must be willing to allow that God also speaks to us through the Bible. For those who question the value of the Bible in this process, allow me to give a brief reason for relying upon Scripture for a communication from God.
First, this is where we find the most all inclusive account of the life, work, personality and ideas of the person called Jesus. While there are various other references to Jesus (both implied and direct) in ancient writings, all of them are made in passing. None of them (with the exception of those mentioned below) have Jesus as their focal point. If you really want to discover Jesus, the New Testament is where you must go to do this.
Which documents we look to when we search for the Jesus we are going to listen to is extremely important. This is because, when we put ourselves in a truly listening posture, we are letting our guard down, just as we do with other human beings. When we really listen to another human being, we drop our defenses. We put down our guard, we suspend our judgment, we let what they are saying challenge us, encourage us, change our thinking, affect our behavior. When we listen to God, we allow him to do all of this. When we listen to God through Jesus, we allow all of this. When we listen to God through Jesus, as he is presented to us in a written text (like the Gospels), we are letting that text have access to the control of our lives. That is why it is so important which text we allow to speak to us this way.
This is why it is important that we understand that the New Testament Gospels are a reliable source for information about Jesus. This is a contested statement in our larger culture. Increasingly, certain groups of scholars want to suggest that all sorts of other documents are better sources for finding out about Jesus and his teachings. This is not the place to get into a detailed discussion of this phenomenon. But the following may be helpful: Only the New Testament Gospels tell similar stories about Jesus while also giving us multiple witnesses to the events. This is very important. It is like getting statements from each of 4 people who witness an accident at an intersection, each of them standing on a different corner of the intersection. They all report the same basic event, but their individual "take" on what they saw is somewhat different in detail. This is the kind of of "witness" that investigators want as they study what happened. It can be frustrating at times (just like the Gospels), but you can make sense out of it.
When we look at all the other texts that claim to be on the same level of seriousness as the Gospels, but which are not included in the New Testament, we have something quite different. Many of the scholars who wish to take this material into account do not often tell their readers that this other material . . . 1) Comes from a time much later than the 4 New Testament Gospels (which were written within living memory of Jesus himself). 2) That this material often has a distinct theological "flavor" that can be easily identified and that leads into a variety of ideas that the New Testament as a whole condemns. 3) That only rarely can the various stories in these materials be made to sound like they are talking about the same Jesus. They each present a different and often odd "Jesus." 4) The Jesus they represent almost never sounds anything like the Jesus of the New Testament Gospels, while one can easily make the connections between the Jesus of Mark and the Jesus of Luke, which are not all that far from the Jesus of John.
So, which "version" of Jesus we listen to matters a great deal. Of all the competing versions, I think the "version" offered to us in the New Testament Gospels is the most self-consistent, meaningful and helpful version. And I have looked at many of the others as well. And since I am going to end up submitting the formation of my mind and my life to one of these versions, I have to tell you that I have been pretty cautious about my conclusions.
So as not to disappoint those who hoped I would include something practical in this blog, let me close with this: We can read the Bible for information. We have all done this, some more than others. When we do this, we are looking for stories with moral points, teachings that tell us what to do about this or that situation, principles to apply, and so forth. I am not personally convinced that such reading is all that helpful in a serious walk with God. But we have all done it and we will all continue to do it at some level, myself included.
But when we are "listening" we are reading differently. It is much more like reading a letter from someone whose wisdom we seek. More than that, it is like going to spend time with a person whom you greatly respect and who has consistently opened up to you new understandings of your own life, the way the world works, what other people are like. It is like going into that person's presence, knowing that you will always walk away with something valuable, but never knowing what it might be beforehand. You go trusting that something will be said that will matter, that will make a difference, that will make you more real.
When we come to the Bible and read with that kind of attitude, it changes things. The practical side of it is that, as you read, thoughts, ideas, understandings come into one's mind that are new, challenging, profound. It is the constant practice of this kind of reading that provides an increasingly deep pool of experience by which we can and do judge what we think that we are hearing at later times. This is, of course based on the idea that God himself inhabits his people through his Holy Spirit, so that we have the means to recognize God's "voice" when we hear it. More about that in the next blog, together with some practical ideas about how we actually come to know how "speaks" to us individually.
First, this is where we find the most all inclusive account of the life, work, personality and ideas of the person called Jesus. While there are various other references to Jesus (both implied and direct) in ancient writings, all of them are made in passing. None of them (with the exception of those mentioned below) have Jesus as their focal point. If you really want to discover Jesus, the New Testament is where you must go to do this.
Which documents we look to when we search for the Jesus we are going to listen to is extremely important. This is because, when we put ourselves in a truly listening posture, we are letting our guard down, just as we do with other human beings. When we really listen to another human being, we drop our defenses. We put down our guard, we suspend our judgment, we let what they are saying challenge us, encourage us, change our thinking, affect our behavior. When we listen to God, we allow him to do all of this. When we listen to God through Jesus, we allow all of this. When we listen to God through Jesus, as he is presented to us in a written text (like the Gospels), we are letting that text have access to the control of our lives. That is why it is so important which text we allow to speak to us this way.
This is why it is important that we understand that the New Testament Gospels are a reliable source for information about Jesus. This is a contested statement in our larger culture. Increasingly, certain groups of scholars want to suggest that all sorts of other documents are better sources for finding out about Jesus and his teachings. This is not the place to get into a detailed discussion of this phenomenon. But the following may be helpful: Only the New Testament Gospels tell similar stories about Jesus while also giving us multiple witnesses to the events. This is very important. It is like getting statements from each of 4 people who witness an accident at an intersection, each of them standing on a different corner of the intersection. They all report the same basic event, but their individual "take" on what they saw is somewhat different in detail. This is the kind of of "witness" that investigators want as they study what happened. It can be frustrating at times (just like the Gospels), but you can make sense out of it.
When we look at all the other texts that claim to be on the same level of seriousness as the Gospels, but which are not included in the New Testament, we have something quite different. Many of the scholars who wish to take this material into account do not often tell their readers that this other material . . . 1) Comes from a time much later than the 4 New Testament Gospels (which were written within living memory of Jesus himself). 2) That this material often has a distinct theological "flavor" that can be easily identified and that leads into a variety of ideas that the New Testament as a whole condemns. 3) That only rarely can the various stories in these materials be made to sound like they are talking about the same Jesus. They each present a different and often odd "Jesus." 4) The Jesus they represent almost never sounds anything like the Jesus of the New Testament Gospels, while one can easily make the connections between the Jesus of Mark and the Jesus of Luke, which are not all that far from the Jesus of John.
So, which "version" of Jesus we listen to matters a great deal. Of all the competing versions, I think the "version" offered to us in the New Testament Gospels is the most self-consistent, meaningful and helpful version. And I have looked at many of the others as well. And since I am going to end up submitting the formation of my mind and my life to one of these versions, I have to tell you that I have been pretty cautious about my conclusions.
So as not to disappoint those who hoped I would include something practical in this blog, let me close with this: We can read the Bible for information. We have all done this, some more than others. When we do this, we are looking for stories with moral points, teachings that tell us what to do about this or that situation, principles to apply, and so forth. I am not personally convinced that such reading is all that helpful in a serious walk with God. But we have all done it and we will all continue to do it at some level, myself included.
But when we are "listening" we are reading differently. It is much more like reading a letter from someone whose wisdom we seek. More than that, it is like going to spend time with a person whom you greatly respect and who has consistently opened up to you new understandings of your own life, the way the world works, what other people are like. It is like going into that person's presence, knowing that you will always walk away with something valuable, but never knowing what it might be beforehand. You go trusting that something will be said that will matter, that will make a difference, that will make you more real.
When we come to the Bible and read with that kind of attitude, it changes things. The practical side of it is that, as you read, thoughts, ideas, understandings come into one's mind that are new, challenging, profound. It is the constant practice of this kind of reading that provides an increasingly deep pool of experience by which we can and do judge what we think that we are hearing at later times. This is, of course based on the idea that God himself inhabits his people through his Holy Spirit, so that we have the means to recognize God's "voice" when we hear it. More about that in the next blog, together with some practical ideas about how we actually come to know how "speaks" to us individually.
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