Dates with God
November 23, 2009
I’m learning how to listen to God. Listening while I’m working, cleaning, singing, or just being quiet. He really is always there, and He often talks to me. I don’t know how I ever lived without this constant interaction. I thought I’d start sharing some of what He’s told me. I’m not going to pretend I hear Him exactly right. I’m still learning to distinguish my thoughts from His. But the more I practice this, the easier it gets to distinguish when it’s really Him. If you want practical help in learning how to do this, I strongly recommend Dallas Willard’s book “Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God”.
Sometimes He talks with me while we have dinner together. And sometimes He talks to me when I’m walking. I’ve never been one of those people who can just be perfectly still and hear better that way. I know that some of what He tells me is just for me, but I pray that some of it ministers to others as well. That’s why I’m going to be putting some of those thoughts in my blog. So here goes!
Last Friday I sat down to my Shabbat dinner and asked Him if there was anything He wanted to say. I heard “Why do you always think I’m going to tell you that you’re doing something wrong, or that I’m angry with you?” He was right. It’s better than it used to be, but my typical response to the thought of listening for Him is usually underlined with fear and shame. But for heaven’s sake, he already knows all my failures! I said back to Him, “I fear punishment”. And He said, “I’ve already took it.” I was reminded in the depths of my spirit that He sees me as lovely. ”Dark am I yet lovely”. SS 1:5 My response to this is: “Okay, Lord. Heal my heart until all my perceptions and thinking come into alignment with how You see me. Show me how much You love me that I might love You more.”
Yesterday I asked Him again. I felt directed to read Psalm 37 again, one of my favorites. And I saw a connection that I’ve never seen before. Verse 4 says “Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Verses 23-24 say “The steps of a man are established by the LORD, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.” For the first time I saw that these two verses indicate a mutual delighting in each other. God delights in us, and in every step we take. And we delight in Him. It’s these two things that cause His will to come about in our lives, and our dreams to be fulfilled. It’s like two people gazing at each other with deeper and deeper delight and knowing. He LOVES me, and I LOVE Him! Mutual delight. It makes me want to run through downtown Ann Arbor and shout out that He LOVES me! Amazing.
