Questions

One early Visayan morning, God presented me with a persimmon sunrise, and in return, I presented Him three questions.

Two questions He answered categorically; one, I'm still a little uncertain of, but then again, I can be so dense about listening for His answers that He has to knock me over the head with them. Short of spelling out the words in flashing neon lights, is more like it.

The God of gentle mornings and violent thunderstorms answered my question about continuing to serve Him in mission by leading me to read Matthew 25:31-40, which I mistakenly thought was the day's Gospel (it was only a Tuesday, and maybe waking up too early had me reading Friday's Good News): "'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.' (35-40)" Couldn't get a better or more "neon light" answer than that.

My God, who knows the deepest desires of my heart, and who has cleared away most of those that are incompatible with His own desires for my life, then answered my next question. Lord, I still want to see a lot more of this world that You've created. Will you continue to take me to distant shores and the islands to see Your light? And He answered me even before I'd finished asking, by speaking into my heart just as the horizon struck gold and tangerine hues started to bleed from the seas into the heavens: I will give you all this...there's a lot more where that came from. It's an old theme song really, that right now I'm hearing in head: "You and I will travel far together; we'll pursue our little star together..."

Question number three, still a little iffy - and maybe needs more time for me to listen more. Seems like God was not "ready" to have His answer known yet. Or perhaps I wasn't ready to hear it? Then again, as I think about it now, He answered this question a while back, but I probably just have too little faith in Him to take Him at His word (sorry, Lord). Today, His answer is still a little cryptic, but He speaks through Oswald Chambers as He tells me to trust, be faithful and consistent, and for heaven's sake Honey, believe!

November 14
Discovering Divine Design

As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me . . .
—Genesis 24:27

We should be so one with God that we don’t need to ask continually for guidance. Sanctification means that we are made the children of God. A child’s life is normally obedient, until he chooses disobedience. But as soon as he chooses to disobey, an inherent inner conflict is produced. On the spiritual level, inner conflict is the warning of the Spirit of God. When He warns us in this way, we must stop at once and be renewed in the spirit of our mind to discern God’s will (see Romans 12:2 ). If we are born again by the Spirit of God, our devotion to Him is hindered, or even stopped, by continually asking Him to guide us here and there. ". . . the Lord led me . . ." and on looking back we see the presence of an amazing design. If we are born of God we will see His guiding hand and give Him the credit.

We can all see God in exceptional things, but it requires the growth of spiritual discipline to see God in every detail. Never believe that the so-called random events of life are anything less than God’s appointed order. Be ready to discover His divine designs anywhere and everywhere.

Beware of being obsessed with consistency to your own convictions instead of being devoted to God. If you are a saint and say, "I will never do this or that," in all probability this will be exactly what God will require of you. There was never a more inconsistent being on this earth than our Lord, but He was never inconsistent with His Father. The important consistency in a saint is not to a principle but to the divine life. It is the divine life that continually makes more and more discoveries about the divine mind. It is easier to be an excessive fanatic than it is to be consistently faithful, because God causes an amazing humbling of our religious conceit when we are faithful to Him.