Day 4: As We Are Struggling, God Is Revealing
Read: Genesis 1:1 - 3:10
Everything struggles! - Can I get at least one or two Amen's on this
one? From the very beginning there has been this gargantuan struggle to
listen. God spoke into the newness of creation seven times and each
time, creation extended its full self into the business of listening to
what it was God was telling it what to do. Then the struggle began in
earnest to meet the challenges that had been placed before it. God said
to creation each time to give Him more physical substance and an ever
greater expression to the next new form of life after each and every
day. It blows my mind!
I wont begin to place myself in
those very first moments of life itself. I would truly be scared out of
my mind to build a time machine to go back to those moments when
creation was struggling to listen to God and bring newer and greater
expression to the struggle of witnessing life coming forth from
nothingness. Animals will struggle to find their means of staying alive.
Likewise, people will find themselves struggling with their life. I
encounter people who are struggling with whether their faith is real.
They struggle to believe in themselves, as being successful because of
their apparent lack of godliness, their apparent lack of spirituality.
Remember Adam and Eve are hiding?
So, like Adam and Eve, we
keep struggling to hide our own lives from God. So how does God respond?
He makes a personal appearance and calls out to us from our hiding
place "Where are you, O man?" "Where are your struggles, O man?" Are we
listening? Are we struggling to listen from our hiding places? As you
are reading this I guess that I can still make a reasonable claim that
you are human and have been for a long time. And like me, struggle hard
against listening to this call to come out. "Not today! Not even tomorrow! Next week doesn't look promising either - So go AWAY!"
Then suddenly against our wills we find ourselves thinking twice about
our stance! It starts in the back of our minds urging us forward. Slowly
at first so we dismiss it. It will not go away, it is gaining momentum
that we no longer have any control over. It is struggling to reveal our struggles in spite of ourselves. "Engage your feet." No! It said, "Engage your feet!!" I responded, "I don't want to." It said "Give me an inch!" I said "No, you'll want a mile. I 'm not going." It said "Please?" With
an ever growing reluctance to resist, I said, "Um, do I really have
to?" Stern came the reply, "YES, I really believe you do!" Like Adam
and Eve, the Holy Spirit pushed me out of hiding. I humbly stepped
forth. Through the Holy Spirit's voice of mercy I listened TO my God.
Let us Pray: As we struggle to hide our lives from you, reveal to us
Your Holy Spirit. That through it's prompting, we may hear and listen to
its words of assurance. That through this struggle with our spiritual
deafness, we may overcome our hiding place. Let us overcome ourselves!
Let us reveal ourselves to Your grace, love and mercy.
http://www.youtube.com/
Read: Genesis 1:1 - 3:10
Everything struggles! - Can I get at least one or two Amen's on this one? From the very beginning there has been this gargantuan struggle to listen. God spoke into the newness of creation seven times and each time, creation extended its full self into the business of listening to what it was God was telling it what to do. Then the struggle began in earnest to meet the challenges that had been placed before it. God said to creation each time to give Him more physical substance and an ever greater expression to the next new form of life after each and every day. It blows my mind!
I wont begin to place myself in those very first moments of life itself. I would truly be scared out of my mind to build a time machine to go back to those moments when creation was struggling to listen to God and bring newer and greater expression to the struggle of witnessing life coming forth from nothingness. Animals will struggle to find their means of staying alive. Likewise, people will find themselves struggling with their life. I encounter people who are struggling with whether their faith is real. They struggle to believe in themselves, as being successful because of their apparent lack of godliness, their apparent lack of spirituality. Remember Adam and Eve are hiding?
So, like Adam and Eve, we keep struggling to hide our own lives from God. So how does God respond? He makes a personal appearance and calls out to us from our hiding place "Where are you, O man?" "Where are your struggles, O man?" Are we listening? Are we struggling to listen from our hiding places? As you are reading this I guess that I can still make a reasonable claim that you are human and have been for a long time. And like me, struggle hard against listening to this call to come out. "Not today! Not even tomorrow! Next week doesn't look promising either - So go AWAY!"
Then suddenly against our wills we find ourselves thinking twice about our stance! It starts in the back of our minds urging us forward. Slowly at first so we dismiss it. It will not go away, it is gaining momentum that we no longer have any control over. It is struggling to reveal our struggles in spite of ourselves. "Engage your feet." No! It said, "Engage your feet!!" I responded, "I don't want to." It said "Give me an inch!" I said "No, you'll want a mile. I 'm not going." It said "Please?" With an ever growing reluctance to resist, I said, "Um, do I really have to?" Stern came the reply, "YES, I really believe you do!" Like Adam and Eve, the Holy Spirit pushed me out of hiding. I humbly stepped forth. Through the Holy Spirit's voice of mercy I listened TO my God.
Let us Pray: As we struggle to hide our lives from you, reveal to us Your Holy Spirit. That through it's prompting, we may hear and listen to its words of assurance. That through this struggle with our spiritual deafness, we may overcome our hiding place. Let us overcome ourselves! Let us reveal ourselves to Your grace, love and mercy.
http://www.youtube.com/
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