For Him Who Has Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear
by Joan Vetter
I love it when, in reading a passage of Scripture, it seems to jump out like I had never read it before. I know the Holy Spirit is endeavoring to tap me on the shoulder saying, "There's something here I want to reveal to you."
One day as I read about preparations for the Passover, I noticed Peter and John asked Jesus where He wanted them to prepare the Passover. His answer amazed me with the detail. Jesus responded, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. Then you shall say to the master of the house, The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples? Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready."
I've often joked that I wish the Lord would download directions for my day like a GPS system (God's Positioning Service), but suddenly as I read the above passage I realized Jesus did speak very specifically to His disciples, even revealing what was to come. So I am His disciple, and the Word tells me that Jesus is the same today as He was then, and that His sheep hear His voice. That means I should expect to receive His counsel and instructions a lot more clearly than I do.
Like Hansel and Gretel, I follow the scattered crumbs to find my way. Since Jesus is the Bread of Life surely there will be a path for me. First I thought about a meeting I attended the first of the year. We wrote out scriptures, put them in a bowl and each person drew one, trusting the Holy Spirit to guide us to the one we needed for the coming year. Well, I drew Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." So, for a couple of weeks I would ask the Lord about many things, trusting Him to direct me. However, I didn't keep it up. As I began to think about His specific guidance, the words "all your ways" stood out. He didn't say when you just don't know what to do, but in everything.
Reactions to wanting the Lord to direct your path vary on the scale - from having no clue that there is a God who is vitally interested in our lives - to the imbalance of believing only mentally ill individuals hear God speak in bizarre ways. The plume line of the Word of God is our instructor. However, we have all had traditional teaching that clouds the Truth. Therefore, we need to trust the Holy Spirit to be our compass, and open our hearts and minds to new understanding.
I have great delight in recalling an incident years ago where I heard the voice of God so clearly, but argued with him, coming close to missing out on a sweet blessing.
We were preparing to move to Ohio. "Lord", I complained, "I really thought there would be an opportunity for Ted to meet Tom." Tom was my Sunday School teacher who experienced a dramatic conversion, from a millionaire addicted to drugs, pornography and adultery to being so in love with the Lord that he poured his money into mission trips and shared how God had set him free to everyone who would listen.
"Invite them for dinner," I heard the Lord say. What? We only had a couple more weeks before Ted would be leaving and we had much to do. Also it was close to Christmas. I gave God all these excuses.
"Ted doesn't even know him and would say no."
"It is Christmastime and I'm sure they are busy."
The clincher was, "God, They used to live in a 7 bedroom mansion, and we have a 1500 square foot house which is not even decorated much for Christmas."
Can you believe God was kind enough to answer that so specifically? When Tom preached at our church that weekend, our pastor introduced him, saying, "For the sake of the gospel he has downsized to a 1500 square foot home!" As you can imagine, I quickly made the call to invite them. They were pleased to come. At dinner his wife said, "I love your Christmas decorations - I haven't had a chance to do anything yet."
So with that remembrance, today I'm telling the Lord, "Lord, I want to hear You like that again, but I don't promise that I won't argue with you - just ask my husband. I don't always listen to him the first time either."
