revealing

Does God speak? And how does he make himself known?

The answer to the first is Yes. And to the second, Variously.

A lot of my days are spent on matters relating to this.

Seeking to hear the voice of the Lord myself. And helping others to hear what he's saying as well.

We were thinking a bit about that on Monday night when I met with the folk of the fellowship group I lead. The way the Lord asks (rhetorically) 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I a about to do?'

Which, of course, he doesn't. He likes to share his heart. Same as he likes it when we share our hearts with him.

And Abraham wasn't a one-off sort of oddity in that regard. A good deal later the down-to-earth farmer-turned-prophet Amos declares, 'The Lord does nothing without first revelaing his plan to his servants the prophets'I.

Nothing! Like he always spills the beans in advance and lets his people know.

So it comes as no surprise to find that Jesus says pretty much the same. 'You are my friends, so I tell you everything..'

Relationship lies at the heart of what the whole thing is all about. Our pouring out our hearts to the Lord. His pouring out his heart to us.

Most folk are reasonably comfortable with part one of that. Our pouring out our hearts to him. At least from time to time they're happy enough (or unhappy enough perhaps) to pray.

But, hey, this whole business of the Lord pouring out his heart to us ... that's a bit more 'edgy', is it not?

So a lot of the time I'm speaking with folk, it's this sort of thing which is coming into play. What does the Lord have to say? And how can we know?

Much of my day today has been spent with folk on issues along these lines.

People with whom the Lord has been certainly speaking. And who aren't quite sure what tp make of it. And not too sure how to handle the thing as well.

Being able to talk it all through is a help. And the fact that he seems to be speaking like this, to more and more folk in these days - that's a real encouragement to me.

He's on the move. He has his plans. And it seems that he's now revelaing these plans in advance of what he'll do. Which figures. It's the pattern he likes to adopt..

Exciting times.