The Art of Listening to God

God is contantly speaking. He hasn’t stopped when the canon of the Bible is completed as some people wrongly think. God continues to speak through his Word—through its reading and proclamation. Moreover, God is speaking to us through nature, history and all that happens around us.

To hear God we just need to listen to him. Listening to God is an art. A.W. Tozer wrote many years ago: ‘The Voice of God is a friendly Voice. No one need fear to listen to it unless he has already made up his mind to resist it.’

How do we hear that friendly voice speaking to us? There are lessons to be learned in this regard from Samuel’s encounter with God. We read of this in 1 Samuel 3.

The first thing is to tell God that we are willing to hear. God called Samuel by name before he told him what he wanted to tell him. Young Samuel was not used to the voice of God, so he ran to the only other person in the sanctuary where he slept. It happened three times. On the third time, Eli realised that it could be God calling him. So, he instructed Samuel to say when God call him again, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’ The next time God called him, he said exactly the same words that Eli taught him and God spoke to him about his plans for the household of Eli.

It is God’s prerogative to choose the person he wants to speak to. Though he is speaking continuously, he may prefer certain people to receive his message. This may depend on that person’s relationship with God. God did not tell Lot what is going to happen to Sodom and Gomorrah though he was a citizen there. That plan was revealed to Abraham though Abraham was not going to be affected directly by God's action. God did not choose Eli to disclose the plan of judgement on his house, but it was revealed to Samuel. It is a privilege to be the person that God chooses to speak to.

Many people are experts in the technical details of having a conversation with God. Eli is a good example. However, one can use the technical knowledge only if God addresses them. Eli knew what to say when God calls, he probably had many such experiences even. However, he was not chosen to receive God’s message.

It is sin, Eli’s sin and that of his children that snapped the hotline between him and God. The continuous resistance of God’s voice, even through a prophet directly amounted to a break of talking terms with God.

The art of listening to God’s voice thus seems to be simple. Be ready with hearts purified before God. Wait for him to call, and say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’

The Lonely Apostle

Mark 5:1-20 is the story of Jesus healing a demoniac. This man had withdrawn from the society. He was living in a graveyard. Graveyards are always away from where people live, usually outside the village or the town. Under the demonic oppression he ‘was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.’
The story goes on to say how Jesus healed him. Jesus commanded the multitude of demons that has possessed him to come out. The came out and entered the pigs and perished as the pigs frantically ran to the lake and drowned. According to popular beliefs of the day, the demons would perish if they touch the water. So, Jesus cleansed the land of the multitude of demons.
A legion is a unit of Roman soldiers. We are not sure how many people are there in a legion of Roman soldiers. But according to some scholars, five to six thousand members formed a legion. However, it is not the number that matters here. The demoniac says, ‘My name is Legion, for we are many.’
The word ‘legion’ is symbolic. The man is occupied by a legion of demons like the land is occupied by the legions of Roman soldiers under various army commanders. The story thus has a message beyond merely healing a sick person. It has another level of meaning. If Jesus can handle a legion of supernatural forces tormenting one man, then he has the power over legions of soldiers who are just men of flesh!
The situation of this man is pitiful. He is occupied by demons the size of a legion that is required to command and control a whole region. They have been oppressing him and was not willing not to leave. However, at the command of Jesus, they finally had to leave.
The story ends with a commission to this man. He wanted to follow Jesus in his forward journey. However, Jesus denied his request. Jesus said, ‘Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’
This command of Jesus is a total reversal of the condition of this man. He was living in a place where there are no living. He was in a graveyard. He had shunned people. Jesus thus sends him back to people from whom he has withdrawn. He will go to the people from whom he has withdrawn with a new message. That message is that Jesus has overcome a legion of demons. It is a message of hope for his region under Roman occupation. He is a walking symbol of liberation, once occupied now liberated. Once oppressed by violent forces but now free. The legion had taken over his mental processes, but now he is in control of his mind.
He is an apostle because he is sent by Jesus with a message. That message has to do with the mercy of God on his oppressed people. He will be a lonely apostle among his own people. That was his commission from Jesus.

Discipleship, a Life-long Process

The New Testament imagines discipleship as a lifelong journey. Being a disciple is a life-long journey through pain and suffering.  When Jesus called his first disciples, he asked them to follow him, but did not tell how long because it is a life-long journey.
This is what Jesus told his disciples. “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. (Matt 10:25, ESV).
This passage is set in the context of Jesus warning his disciples of the persecution and martyrdom that they may have to go through.
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you sin their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. (Matt 10:16-23, ESV).”
Now let us try to understand these two passages a bit closer. First of all, it implies that discipleship is a process where the disciples are treated by the world just as their master was treated. There will be betrayals (v. 21), there will be arrests (v. 19) and even death (v. 21), just as the master had gone through. The path of pain and suffering for others led the teacher to his death. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.
However, it seems that in Paul’s understanding it is beyond the death of the disciple but extends to the experience of resurrection. In Phil 3:10, Paul’s discipleship is not limited to a knowledge (learning) the historical Jesus nor a body of knowledge about Jesus that apostles handed down. It is the experience of Christ but an experience that is limited to his physical experiences. Paul wants to “… know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death….” His learning of Christ extends to the life beyond. (Phil 3:10, ESV).
Being the disciples of Jesus is a painful process. Paradoxically, we are ‘wounded healers.’ In the process of our service to God, we get wounded by the people whom we serve, people who oppose our service. It doesn’t matter whether you minister God in a country where Christians are persecuted or protected. However, the calling of the disciple is to continue the healing though wounded.

Discipleship: Learning the Teacher

Discipleship is not just learning from Christ but learning Christ. Paul warns the Ephesian church, ‘But that is not the way you learned Christ!’ (Eph 4:20 ESV). There are two important observations on this passage. First of all, the root of the verb translated as ‘learn’ in almost all English translations, could mean ‘learning by enquiry.’ It is used in this sense in 1 Corinthians 14:35. Enquiry is an integral aspect of the teacher-disciple relationship in eastern cultures. The disciples probe and the teacher dispenses knowledge in response to the intellectual queries of the student. Traditionally what the disciple probes is teachings, a body of knowledge.

However, there is a major difference in Christian discipleship. What the disciple probes is not just a set of principles or teachings. They are probing the teacher himself. The teacher is the object of inquiry. This implies that Christian discipleship has to do with knowing more and more of the person of the Teacher.

This is exemplified in the longings of Saint Paul that expressed in Phil 3:10: “… that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death….” Discipleship is knowing Christ, but not merely a saving knowledge of him, but an exploration of his person. This is how Christian discipleship is different from idolatry. Idolatry has to do with a static knowledge of the object of worship. However, God’s plan for the Christian discipleship is growth in knowledge as Saint Peter observes. Peter concludes his second epistle with the exhortation that stresses this aspect of Christian discipleship. “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18, ESV).

New Year Toast

I hope 2016 has been a great year for us all. It was indeed a year of blessing in every way, particularly on the spiritual side. We look back and wonder on the way that God lead us. What can we do for God for leading us. The psalmist in Psalmist 116:13 also is in bewilderment mode.

‘I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord….’

He enumerates all that God has done for him. He begins it with his prayers and how God answered his prayers.

‘I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.’ (Psa 116:1-2, ESV).

Then he goes on to list the specific answers to prayer that he received.

He had been to the extremes in his life. He had come to a point his whole life was threatened. He was at the point of death.

‘For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.’ (Psa 116:8-9, ESV).

His predicament what can he do render to God in return for what God has done for him. The cup of salvation is the experience of deliverance in his life.

Cup of salvation is that experience of thanking God. Enumerating what he means to us this year. Doing it in the presence of other people is the only thing that we can do to God.

Consecration for new beginnings

The command to consecrate is found throughout the Old Testament and the Bible in general. The priests are to be consecrated, the place of worship and all its artefacts are to be consecrated. However, the command ‘consecrate yourself’ found in Joshua 3:5 carries a special significance. ‘Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”’
It is a consecration for a special purpose. The reason for this consecration is that tomorrow they are going to see great miracle that God is going to do for them. They are going to cross over to the land that was promised to their ancestors centuries ago. Moreover, they are going to cross over the turbulant waters of Jordan that is overflowing over its banks.
The people whom Joshua addresses are the new generation of Exodus group who are born in the desert, except for Joshua and Caleb. Their parents who left with the hope of reaching the promised land perished in the wilderness unable to see the fulfillment of the promise. That promise was made by God to Abraham almost 500 years ago. God had promised Abraham that he will give his descendants the land of Canaan.
However, about five centuries have elapsed. Now they are at the verge of the fulfilment of that promise. It was 500 years away from Abraham, forty years away for Moses and the original group left Egypt, but for this new group it is less than 24 hours away.
But life has taught all of us that many things could be missed at the last point. In the finals of the sprint event, though we were in the lead all throughout, it was the feet of the person just behind us that touched the line first. We were pushed to second place at that crucial last split second. 
However old be the promise, it can be missed even in the last few hours. These less than 24 hours are crucial. They are going to cross over. Joshua instructs the people, ‘consecrate yourself.’ That is how we prepare ourselves for new beginnings. Another year is almost over, a few more hours remain. These are the hours to consecrate ourselves in order to see the miracles that the Lord is going to showcase before us in the New Year!

'Command me!'

And Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’ (Matt 14:28-33, ESV).

I have heard preachers say that there is only one person who ever walked over water and that is Jesus. That is an oversimplification and a misreading of the scripture. However, I read Matthew 14:22-33 again to find out that there are two people who really walked on water—Jesus and Peter!

Most of us focus on Peter beginning to drown. However, the scripture passage clearly says that Peter walked over water and reached Jesus. He began to drown only after reaching arms-length from Jesus.

The first step in Peter accomplishing world record as the first human being to walk on water is to be commanded by Jesus. Jesus assured the disciples that it is not a ghost but he himself who is walking on the water. Peter’s immediate response was, ‘Lord if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ Jesus commanded him by saying, ‘come!’ Then Peter steps out to the stormy sea and walks just as Jesus was walking.

For Peter, it was not just a thrill, but it was a test. The test is if it is Jesus and not a ghost who is walking over the water, then his command will make it possible for Peter to walk. The ghost cannot command and make it happen.
 
Peter has illustrated another aspect of Christian faith. This truth is that we cannot do things unless God has commanded us.

But why did he begin to drown? That is because he was afraid of the wind. He was with Jesus, he is on a firm glassy ground with Jesus. There is nothing to worry but he was afraid of the wind. If we step out on faith in response to his command we do the impossible. Jesus commands and things happen. However, our fear makes us drown.