In this third segment on LISTENING, I want to share with you the Lord’s great provision. Brian and I spent this past weekend in Nashville. He had a veterinary conference, and I went along with him. For me, it provided some precious time alone—a time to spend in prayer and buried in the Word of God. On Sunday, I attended a church service where the pastor preached on Ephesians 1:17-18.
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people… .
He reminded us that we “cannot microwave our intimacy with the Lord.” This struck me as such an incredible way to describe our faith walk.
I remember praying last summer for the word God would use in my life this year. I remember Him placing the word LISTEN on my heart and then putting it everywhere I looked, so I would be certain not to miss the memo. I remember my uncertainty on what it meant. I remember praying over and over and over again for God to teach me what it means to listen.
He answers when we seek Him with a genuine and sincere longing to know Him better. He wants us to know Him.
I know in the summer I wanted to know what it meant to LISTEN right now. I wanted to “microwave” the process. But the pastor on Sunday also reminded us that as we seek friendship with our great God there is both certainty and mystery.
If God promises it, it will happen. Let me say that again…
If God promises it, it will happen.
His Word is true. And He always keeps His promises.
But there is also a mystery about it. We cannot know or predict God’s timing or His way. And shouldn’t we be so thankful for this? God’s timing is always better than ours. His way is often “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” If we can be patient—if we can wait upon the Lord in eager anticipation—it will always lead us to a deeper understanding of Him.
I was telling some friends of ours recently what a wonderful pie maker Brian is. What’s your favorite kind? one of our friends asked him.
Grape, Brian replied. And he went on to share the painstakingly slow process of separating the insides from the skins and then cooking them down, separating the seeds out and eventually putting it all back together to create the delicious filling.
And then he said something so interesting: I don’t necessarily like the process. It just takes so much time. But the result is worth the wait.
This is how I feel about the journey the Lord has had me on as I learn to LISTEN in a new way.
It has been painfully slow, but I can say with certainty it has also been more than worth the wait.
As I mentioned earlier, if God promises it, it will happen. On that Wednesday in June of 2015 as I sat in my car all by myself, crying out to the Lord, begging him for the “why” of my MS, He made a promise to me. He took me to His Word. He took me to John 9:1-3 and He assured me in His Word that He was giving me this—allowing this trial in my life—“so that the works of God might be displayed in me.”
I’m not making this up. God even allowed me to create a blog where this is recorded so that no one can say it didn’t happen. And I told you in 2015 that I didn’t necessarily understand how, but that I had a peace that surpassed any and all understanding that this was true then and going to be true in the future.
In the last few weeks, God has allowed this promise to come true in my life in ways I could not miss. Let me take you back a few months: in December the local newspaper told me that people had been reading my blog and that if I was open to it, they would like to do an article on my MS and the blog.
I said okay. And I prayed. For the Lord’s timing, for His hand in it all, for Him to be glorified.
As the basketball season went along, I thought perhaps they’d forgotten about it. But then about two months ago they approached me again. They were ready to do the article.
And on Sunday morning, February 26th, exactly twenty months since my diagnosis, the Lord put Scripture on the front page of the local newspaper. Not just any Scripture—John 9:1-3. He shared my story with thousands of people. He shared His story with thousands of people.
And in the most incredible, most humbling, most powerful way—far beyond measure—He fulfilled His promise that the works of God would be displayed in me, and He showed me what it meant to LISTEN—that if we believe His Word, it can change our hearts and help us to know Him better.
There are so many details of this journey I cannot share here—of a time where I literally felt the Lord’s presence in every part of my life. A time where He chose to reveal Himself to me in the tiniest and most magnificent of ways.
A friend who saw me at church the following Sunday asked why I was crying, and I said I couldn’t possibly put into words the joy in my heart.
And she said it reminded her of Mary in Luke 2:19 where it says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
And I knew in my own way, this was how I felt. I just had to treasure this time and ponder the wonder and awe and joy of KNOWING my Lord better. Of his generous provision in teaching me to listen.
I read this recently and thought it would be a good way to end this series on LISTENING.
Do you see that the Lord’s promises have many fulfillments? They are waiting now to pour out their treasures into the lap of those who pray. God is willing to repeat the biographies of His saints in us. He is waiting to be gracious and to load us with His benefits (Ps. 68:19, KJV). Does this not lift up prayer to a high level?
Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon on Prayer and Spiritual Warfare
I have experienced firsthand the Lord’s promises fulfilled. I have felt the treasure poured out. He has allowed His graciousness and mercy to permeate every inch of who I am. I know that He is the Great I AM and that I am NOT.
I know the Lord is far from done with teaching me to LISTEN. In fact, I know now I must pray and believe that He will continue to help me know Him better. My heart longs for it.
My dear friend, if you do not know Christ in your heart or you aren’t sure, ask someone! And if you do have Him in your heart….oh, how I beg you to ask him to teach you what it means to listen! Ask Him to help you BELIEVE His Word so that you might know Him better.
And then keep praying. And wait upon the Lord in eager anticipation. I am certain He will blow you away.
There is no one like our God!