This whole experience has really weight down my prayer life and tampered my spiritual life. This sunday I thought I need to do something about it. I was at a stage of my life when I need to make so many decisions and take drastic steps of faith for my future. I need to feel God' presence and guidance more than ever. I have this many many little notebooks that I maintain over the years. I had penned down sermons and my own spiritual reflections in this books when I was more devouted. I made it a point to re-read all these sermons on those sundays in which I am not able to make it to the church.
This is a sermon by Dave Andrew, an Australian community Social worker. He spoke on the need to realise our true calling as christians. He says, our true calling is to, "restore God's reputation on earth".
Every time when there is a death in the family or in the community, where the death is a result of sickness (cancer or HIV/AIDS) or accidents, the first reaction from our so called church elders or spiritually mature people is to construe possible voices from God and explain or give every possible explanation of it. To add my own experience to this, I remember when my uncle's only son had died in an accident while leading the church youth in a fund rising activity for the church. A pastor (also a distant relative) came to the house in the evening after the funeral service was over. He stood up and walked about the house as if to receive some divine ordination from above. Then, he spoke about with great authority condemning the father (my uncle)that it was because of his sinful nature and drinking habits that God had taken his son away from him. Even if this was said with a concern for the spiritual welfare of the father, it was like rubbing salt to the wound and to add the pain of guilt to an already broken spirit. It was difficult for my uncle to take it and he sadly, slowly drank himself to death.
When God is so sovereign, why do we need to speak for him. He does use people like Moses and others in the Bible, but they were called and ordained by God to do so. This brings us to the next question: are we committed enough to hear the voices of God? God is a God of love, so merciful yet just. This is clearly reflected in the life of Jonah. The last chapter in the book of Jonah beautifully brings out the character of God as a compassionate and merciful God:
Jonah's anger at the Lord's Compassion
Jonah 4:1: "But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry." Jonah 4:2: "He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. Jonah 4:3 "Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life." Jonah 4:4: "The LORD said, 'Do you have good reason to be angry?" Jonah 4:5: "Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. Jonah 4:6-8: "So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, "Death is better to me than life." Jonah 4:9: "Then God said to Jonah, 'Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?' And he said, 'I have good reason to be angry, even to death." Jonah 4:10-11: "Then the LORD said, "You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight.Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"
It is also a mistake to think we can hear clearly from God without spending time in the word. Knowing the written word protects you from deception. Listening for God's voice without being dedicated to spending time in the word on a regular basis opens you up to hearing voices that are not from God.
