On Hearing God

I believe God speaks to His people in many different ways and I always enjoy hearing stories about people hearing the small, still voice of the Lord.  I heard Him this morning and thought I'd share the odd progression of how He used circumstances and my willingness to pursue Him to speak to me this morning.

As I was driving and praying, I passed these two donkeys standing on a hill.  They were barely illuminated against the horizon as the dawn began to appear.  I thought it was a cool photo opportunity, so I snapped a few pics.  As I continued on my early morning drive, these donkeys kept coming to my mind over and over again.  I wasn't really praying anything too specific - just listening to worship music, enjoying the cool morning air and worshipping.

Somewhere along the way, I decided that the Lord must be bringing these donkeys to mind, so I decided to stop and bust out my trusty YouVersion app on the iPhone and did a Bible search for "donkey".  I had no idea there were so many references to donkeys in the Bible!  As I read through the verses, I came to one that stood out to me:


"The wild donkeys stand on the bare hills panting like thirsty jackals.  They strain their eyes looking for grass, but there is none to be found."  Jeremiah 14:6

I thought to myself, "That is a pretty accurate statement about those two donkeys."  We are in a drought and pastures and crops around here are hurting for water.  So I read the context around this verse and it's a discourse from God telling Jeremiah why he was withholding rain from His people in Judah.  The people complained to God that He had abandoned them, even though they freely admitted their sinful patterns of behavior.  Apparently, they missed the connection between the two.  They accuse God of being "a stranger to us", "confused", and "helpless to save us."  God basically tells them they are on their own because of their lack of faith and how they wander far from Him.

Thankfully, we are no longer far from God because of what we do or don't do.  We are brought near to Him through the blood of Christ and do not have to fear God abandoning us in our moments of stupidity and wandering off.  I drove on, praying for rain and a break in the drought and praying that I would not be like these people and wander far from God simply because I don't understand Him or His ways - whether or not He decides to bring rain.

I mentioned that I was listening to music, right?  As I drove along asking God about this, I was struck by the lyrics of Matt Redman's song, "Fires."

We're standing in the desert of dry bones
But still we see Your life
Walking through the valley of shadows
But holding onto light
And we're waiting, waiting on You God
And our hearts will trust, trust in who You are

[Chorus]
God who keeps our fires burning
Burning through the darkest night
See the hope in our hearts
The faith in our eyes
You can move the highest mountain
You can keep our dreams alive
You're the joy of our hearts
You're the fire in our eyes

Light up our lives with holy flame
All for the honor of Your name
Give us the strength to face the day, Jesus
Light up our lives with holy flame
All for the honor of Your name
Give us the strength to face the day
You're the fire in our eyes

[Chorus]

You're the fire in our eyes
You're the fire in our eyes
You're the fire in our eyes

You will keep the fires burning [x4]

As I drove through this desert we live in right now, I prayed to see God's life all around me, to trust in His ability to keep the fires of faith lit in my heart, to trust in who He is.  I'm praying, singing, yelling and crying and this fire appeared in my eyes, piercing them with its brilliance:

  

God used the sunrise to speak a reminder to me that I live under a different covenant than those folks in Jeremiah's day.  I can trust my God to keep the fires of faith, passion and love alive in my heart - that my faith in Him is actually a gift from Him!  It's one of those awkward paradoxes of belief and truth from a God who loves us too much to allow us to shrivel up and die.  Through Jesus I no longer have a drought of faith - I have abundant life!

God is alive, active and cares today - and he choose to show that to me through an odd combination of driving an old Land Rover in the dark, two donkeys named Pablo and Molly, a curious spirit that searched His Scripture, an incredible worship song from a gifted man of faith and a bright sunrise on a Wednesday morning.  What an incredible, quirky God I serve!