listen

The Lord speaks. Still.

Not always at all what we think or expect. Nor when we expect it as well.

Today I had two quite striking illustrations of just this. The Lord himself speaking with folk.

The first was a person who'd heard through the night some weeks past the Lord simply saying "Just listen."

That's all. Just listen. Keep your ears open. Be ready for what I will say.

That's all that the person had heard.

Until yesterday.

The person concerned had been patiently waiting. And seeking to listen for what the Lord might be saying.

Yesterday, right out of the blue, and in ways that were really quite startling, the Lord made his will very clear. Like there were no two ways about it.

The Lord had made his way clear. The decision was made. And the person was quite at peace about it all. Probably for the first time in months.

I wasn't exactly expecting the news myself. But then again I wasn't entirely surprised.

The Lord is always sovereign. HIs ways past finding out. And when he sets his mind on things, there's simply not a thing that you can do.

Sometimes he seems pretty ruthless in what he does. He's certainly not a soft touch. He's wise and strong and absolutely confident of his supreme ability to bring to pass the daring things he's planned.

Which makes him seem sometimes ruthless. Of course, he's not. Anything but.

But it's scary for us, nonetheless.

He just seems to say all the time, "Trust me."

There's not a lot of options, mind. We have to.

Later on, someone else was in to see me. The Lord had been speaking to this person, too. And again it was striking the way that he'd made his will clear.

The person had been at CLAN ('Christians Linked Across the Nation', a kind of Scottish variation on the New Wine gatherings) in July. There are loads of folk there and loads of good teaching from Scripture.

At one of the sessions, with the speaker expounding Acts, this person had had the distinct and clear sense, right out of the blue, that the Lord was saying "You'll have to learn to drive again!"

The connection with Acts?

Well, absolutely zero.

Had the person just flipped? Anything but. The sense that this was the Lord was more than 100%.

And guess what? A short time later a close relative came into an inheritance and gave this person a substantial sum of money to ... well, go and buy a car!

His words. Though the relative knew nothing at all of what the Lord had been saying back there at CLAN.

What a great encouragement! What a re-assurance!

Precisely what this person has needed in the midst of what's a troubled situation.

The knowledge that God is always that one step ahead. That he always provides. That he's there.

In the beginning was the Word. He's a speaking God.

It's disturbing, the fact that he speaks. Very.

But that's how it is. And, disturbing or not, I wouldn't wish it any other way.