My wife is sometimes very good at convicting me before I even feel a tinge of guilt on my own. She doesn't always know that she's doing it, because most of the time she is talking to me about something she is dealing with... and then wham-o, I feel like crap too. We had one of these amazing moments yesterday. She started talking about how wants to work on listening to God more. No lie, as soon as she started that topic it was like a magnetic force was seductively drawing my hand towards the volume control on the radio to turn it up. Thankfully I resisted and my marriage is (for now) still intact.
I haven't been able to shake that conversation out of my head since. What does it mean to "Listen to God"? What does it look like practically? How do I not turn in to one of those people that say "God told me to do this" and use it as an excuse to do what I want? Will God really REALLY talk to me? I honestly don't know the answers, but I think I know where to start.
I am the kind of person that likes to constantly be busy, or have something to do, or at least be entertained. You can ask anyone that really knows me. When nothing is going on I get jittery, I pace, I doodle, I look at my phone, etc, etc, etc. I get so bored so easily, and am never satisfied with nothing time. I just got back from a two-week business trip to Asia with two others from work. The other two actually had two extra destinations on their itinerary, so I came back to the States before them and was by myself. I recently thought back to my grueling 36-hour return trip and realized that there was hardly a minute that I didn't fill with music, audiobooks, movies, reading, or sleep. I had to be entertained constantly! I am starting to realize that my life is structured just like that. I can't be in the car without something blaring, I can't get through a meal without sending a text, I can't go on an amazing run without my headphones in, I can't get through a movie without checking FaceBook. Heck, I can't even sleep without a noisemaker! It is ridiculous!
Be still and know that I am God.
What a simple, clear, wise, practical, and personally impossible statement. The very thought of INTENTIONAL silence makes me cringe. Why? I wish I knew. Maybe because humanly speaking it seems so impractical. Why do nothing when you can do five things? That's really how I think... and I'm beginning to see how it is preventing me from experiencing a very crucial part of my relationship with God. Maybe listening to God isn't straining to the point of sweat and tears in order to hear an echo of a voice inside my head... maybe it's replacing the white noise in my life with some times of peace.
I haven't been able to shake that conversation out of my head since. What does it mean to "Listen to God"? What does it look like practically? How do I not turn in to one of those people that say "God told me to do this" and use it as an excuse to do what I want? Will God really REALLY talk to me? I honestly don't know the answers, but I think I know where to start.
I am the kind of person that likes to constantly be busy, or have something to do, or at least be entertained. You can ask anyone that really knows me. When nothing is going on I get jittery, I pace, I doodle, I look at my phone, etc, etc, etc. I get so bored so easily, and am never satisfied with nothing time. I just got back from a two-week business trip to Asia with two others from work. The other two actually had two extra destinations on their itinerary, so I came back to the States before them and was by myself. I recently thought back to my grueling 36-hour return trip and realized that there was hardly a minute that I didn't fill with music, audiobooks, movies, reading, or sleep. I had to be entertained constantly! I am starting to realize that my life is structured just like that. I can't be in the car without something blaring, I can't get through a meal without sending a text, I can't go on an amazing run without my headphones in, I can't get through a movie without checking FaceBook. Heck, I can't even sleep without a noisemaker! It is ridiculous!
Be still and know that I am God.
What a simple, clear, wise, practical, and personally impossible statement. The very thought of INTENTIONAL silence makes me cringe. Why? I wish I knew. Maybe because humanly speaking it seems so impractical. Why do nothing when you can do five things? That's really how I think... and I'm beginning to see how it is preventing me from experiencing a very crucial part of my relationship with God. Maybe listening to God isn't straining to the point of sweat and tears in order to hear an echo of a voice inside my head... maybe it's replacing the white noise in my life with some times of peace.
