When God Speaks, Listen

I wrote my last blog post about the 5 words that changed my life, and I didn't realize it at the time, but while I was typing what was on my heart, God was also preparing me to hear another word from Him.  Or rather, remind me.

Yesterday afternoon I was feeling a bit restless.  I had plenty of laundry to fold (thank you lice) and dishes to take care of, etc.  But I just didn't feel like doing any of it.  And as is the benefit of being your own boss, I decided to not do it.  I started to feel led to pick up my Bible and devotional book, My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers.  I'm embarrassed to say the last time I had bothered to open it.

A comment left on my last post led me to Matthew 6:33.  It's a familiar verse:

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

That's really what my last post was about, about seeking God, above anything else, even his will.

So I spent some time meditating on that scripture and the passages before it.  The famous "Do Not Worry" passages beginning in Matthew 6:25:

"That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life - whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear.  Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing?  Look at the birds.  They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them.  And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?  Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?  And why worry about your clothing?  Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow.  They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.  And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you.  Why do you have so little faith?  So don't worry about these things, saying 'what will we eat?  What will we drink?  What will we wear?'  These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."

After some time in thought and prayer I turned to My Utmost, wondering what thoughts Mr. Chambers had for me that day.

It should come as no shock that the scripture that Chambers wrote about for January 27th was Matthew 6:25.  Further, the day before he wrote on Matthew 6:30.

God is so good and knows exactly what we need to hear when we need to hear it.

I've been through this book many many times, and in one of my passes through I underlined certain passages that stuck out to me.  This one particular paragraph, underlined years ago when I was just a college student,  jumped off the page at me like live wire:

"Consider the lilies of the field..." (6:28).  They grow where they are planted.  Many of us refuse to grow where God plants us.  Therefore, we don't take root anywhere.  Jesus said if we would obey the life of God within us, He would look after all other things.  Did Jesus Christ lie to us?  Are we experiencing the "much more" He promised?  If we are not, it is because we are not obeying the life God has given us and have cluttered our minds with confusing thoughts and worries.  How much time have we wasted asking God senseless questions while we should be absolutely free to concentrate on our service to Him?"

Ouch.

Senseless questions?  Uh yeah.  That would be me.  Right over here.

I believe that God is reminding me, sometimes daily, sometimes obviously, to grow where I am planted.  Not where I think I should be planted.  Not where I want to be planted.

Feeling the presence of Christ so near in that moment, I flipped through my journal, to the last thing I had written.  Another quote from Chambers, this time from August 10:

"God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places.  And then we say, 'God intends me to be here because I am so useful to Him.'  Yet Jesus never measured His life by how or where He was of greatest use.  God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be."

Ok God.  I'm listening.