If you were to speak to me and I didn’t respond, depending on how well you know me, you’d either be worried or offended. If you know my penchant for offering individual, undivided attention, then you may wait patiently to be heard. You might repeat your request if you needed my help or attention urgently, but you may also choose to walk away without a second attempt. How would being ignored make you feel?
“The Lord says, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name. All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths and their own crooked schemes.”
Isaiah 65:1-2 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.65.1-2.NLT
Playing hide and seek when my children were small often meant little faces hidden behind hands as if that rendered them invisible, or little voices calling, “here I am,” eager to be found. Can you imagine God eager to be discovered? Jesus encouraged childlike faith in His followers. Are we such “mature” adults that we struggle with this level of humility?
“Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them.
Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.
So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.”
Matthew 18:2-5 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.18.2-5.NLT
How do you interact with God through His Word? Is there a formality that marks your communication, or are you gut-level honest like David in the Psalms?
Speaking with God and hearing His voice is like learning a new language. Beginning in His Word, every believer must familiarize themselves with the voice that is God. The more I’m immersed in His Word, the better I’ll be at recognizing Him when He speaks. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, our tutor and translator.
Saul of Tarsus was educated by the Pharisees, an elite religious group within Judaism. He knew the scrolls backward and forward. He followed the Law to the letter, leading the way in persecuting Christ’s followers until the Lord stopped him in his tracks on the road to Damascus.
“Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers.
So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there.
He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting!”
Acts of the Apostles 9:1-5 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/act.9.5.NLT
“Who we believe God to be does not change Him one whit, but our identities and destinies hinge all their hopes upon it.” ~Beth Moore
Saul thought he knew all he needed to know about God. He was an expert in the Law, but that day on the road to Damascus, he met Jesus and everything changed. The God of the Universe was there all along, unchanged and unchanging, but only when his physical eyes were blinded could Paul truly hear the voice of God. God was ready to be found so He pressed His point with Saul, and Saul responded.
When my children wanted my attention while I was engaged in conversation with an another adult, their antics were often answered with a simple gesture. With a glance in their direction and my pointer finger raised to signify wait, they learned to know they were heard. I could finish my thought before turning my full attention to them.
The truly incredible thing about God is that each of His children always has His undivided attention. God’s thoughts of me in no way diminish His thoughts of you. He hears every prayer as if only one voice is speaking. He responds uniquely and individually through His Spirit and His Word.
“Look! I stand at the door and knock.
If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.
Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying…”
Revelation 3:20, 22 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rev.3.20-22.NLT
“Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.” (I Samuel 3:10)
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