Listening to the Voice of GodSample

Day 5 – THE ATTACHMENT OF GOD’S THOUGHTS

When God speaks to us, we know that it is Him because we can’t let go of that thought.

REFLECTIONS :

Read Jonah 1:1 - 2:3 and Joshua 14:8-12 and take a moment to answer the following questions: 

➤ Why did Jonah find himself in the belly of the fish and what does he do to get out?  

➤ How long did Caleb have to wait to receive what God had promised him, and in your view, how was he able to hold on to that hope for so long?  

CONTENT :

To hear the voice of God we need to enter into His rest, which doesn’t necessarily mean that we should find a quiet and peaceful place, even if it is a good thing to do. It means that we need to stop fighting ourselves to try and give value to our own will or to justify our position. We need to cede to the Holy Spirit by deciding to obey Him, regardless of what He tells us. Let’s remember that God doesn’t speak uselessly, He speaks to people who are willing to obey and put into practice His will, which isn’t always as easy as it seems. We see for example that it was a real struggle for Jonah. He would have preferred to announce judgment. His difficulty wasn’t that God was punishing this city, but the fact that he had a feeling that the city was going to repent, ask for grace and God was going to forgive them. Which is exactly what happened (cf. Jonah 4:2). When God speaks to us, we don’t choose what He is going to say to us. On the other hand, we can run away from His will.

It is, therefore, useless to ask God to speak to us if we have yet to obey what He has already asked us to do. God doesn’t speak into the void and He will not tell us something new if we haven’t yet learned to obey the last thing that He told us to do. You see, there is always a dimension of progression in God’s instructions and we can’t skip a step. So, when we hesitate to obey Him, He will firmly insist. It probably won’t be as radical as it was for Jonah, but one thing is certain, that is we will never be able to move on from what He has said in our heart and our thoughts, while we haven’t yet done it. 

Our responsibility is to know how to cultivate what God has said until it becomes a reality. That is what Caleb had understood: he waited 45 years to see the accomplishment of what God had promised him. To do that, he had to reclaim it from Joshua. On the other hand, if Jonah’s disobedience created anxiety and oppression, when it comes to Caleb, his attachment to what God had told him provoked his faith and determination. That is what allowed him to have the same vigor at 85 years old that he had aged 40. This is faith energy. When God speaks, He is never restricted by our own timetables, however, everything that He says always ends up happening. That is why we need to cultivate what God has put in our hearts, without becoming discouraged, holding on firmly until it becomes a reality.

When God speaks to us, it impacts our way of living. We can no longer remain the same. By necessity, we are going to live in the perspective of what God has said. This becomes more important than everything else. Imagine Caleb searching through the camp to count the survivors, patiently waiting for the last person in his generation to pass away so that he could experience his inheritance. His life was centered on the promise that God had given him, and this allowed him to retain his strength (cf. Joshua 14:10-11). Hearing the voice of God is a privilege, but the aim is above all to transform us and to advance the Kingdom of God, which also supposes that we take action to obey, and to do so in an intentional manner.

If God wants to speak to us, it is because He wants to bless us and use us to be blessings! It is for this reason that He will impress our hearts until we take action in relation to what He has told us because blessing always follows obedience! Take a moment to meditate on what God has told you so that you are sure that you are not like Jonah, but rather like Caleb, that is, to choose to obey in a voluntary manner, without compromise. If God hasn’t yet spoken to you, take some time apart, go on a prayer retreat to seek His will.

 MY DECISION:

➤ What I have understood for my own personal life: 

➤ What I am deciding to do in my life based upon what I have just learned: 

➤ What you decide to do today will determine who and what you will be tomorrow!

Adapted from "un disciple en marche" copyright 2018 by Luc Favre, published by Vie Victorieuse. All rights reserved.