‘Blessed is the man who listens to me,
-Proverbs 8:34
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at the posts of my doors.’
God speaks to us continuously, primarily through Scripture and during prayer. He lays things on our hearts and nudges us to follow. We can choose to listen or ignore. This morning, I finally responded to a nudge I have been ignoring for many months.
There is a gentleman I know who was raised in a Christian home but never set foot in a church once he had a say in the matter. He was surrounded by genuinely godly people and yet walked away. He went on to raise his own family with a deep distrust of the church, pointing them instead toward science, money, and status as the measures of a life well lived.
I have known him for many years and largely stayed out of any conversations about God. But almost a year ago, the Holy Spirit moved me to engage him directly. I told him plainly that he had no real authority to dismiss something he had never truly explored, and challenged him to read the Bible and encounter the one true God before making any judgment calls. I gave him a Bible. He read it cover to cover and concluded that it presented a compelling historical narrative. Progress, of a sort.
We went on to have many conversations on related topics. To make a long story longer: this morning I responded to another gentle nudge from the Holy Spirit. I sent him a text. He replied with the same half-hearted response he always gives. And I felt like I had failed. Why would God send me on a mission only to watch it stall? So many people have remarkable success bringing others to Jesus. Why was I struggling so badly with this one man? He frustrated me. Why would God not send someone more equipped, more persuasive? This man is getting older. One day he will be gone, and he may never have known the love that has been chasing him his entire life.
And then it occurred to me. What if none of this was ever about the outcome? What if it was simply about obedience? I have done so many things that made little sense to me on the surface, simply because they were laid on my heart and confirmed in prayer. I rarely fixate on outcomes when I know God is directing me. This blog, the podcasts, the book — none of it makes complete sense to me, and yet I do it anyway because He asks me to. The God who made the universe can accomplish anything. When He calls me to act, it is because I am part of a plan far greater than myself. In that, I find peace.
‘Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,
-Isaiah 30:21
“This is the way, walk in it,”
Whenever you turn to the right hand
Or whenever you turn to the left.‘
Dear Jesus,
My greatest hope is to put a smile on Your face today by walking faithfully in Your will. Please help me discern clearly and act boldly to glorify You and You alone. I pray in Your precious name. Amen.