Tuesday May 5, 2018

 

The most important factor in your life is whether or not you have the ability to hear God’s voice. The ability to hear God’s voice is just like any other ability in the sense that it needs to be developed. You may have artistic abilities, professional abilities, or any other type of ability, but abilities in and of themselves are not enough, they need to be developed. Most abilities are developed through practice and training.  The ability to consistently hear God’s voice is no different. God oftentimes will test us and use the most difficult situations in our lives to train our ears to listen to his voice.

 

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”“Here I am,” he replied.Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”– Genesis 22:1-2 NIV

 

 

Imagine Abraham, he was an old man who had waited his whole life for God to give him and his wife Sara a son. It wasn’t until they had lost all hope, when they were an elderly couple incapable of biologically producing a child that God finally showed up and gave them a son. Fast forward some 13 years later when Isaac is a teenage boy, God asked Abraham to take Isaac to the region of Moriah to sacrifice him there as a burnt offering. I can imagine Abraham must have thought; how am I going to do that? How am I going to explain to my wife that I will be going on a three-day journey to sacrifice our one and only son?

 

God uses our journey to train our ears to listen to his voice.

 

Oftentimes, in uncertainties and difficulties we find ourselves asking, how am I going to ______________? Go ahead and fill in the blank: pay my bills, survive this family situation, deal with my health problem… Notice that God was not specific when he gave Abraham instructions; he simply said go to the region of Moriah and when you get there, I will show you on which mountain I want you to sacrifice your son. God could have given him complete instructions, but often God, much like your navigation system, wants to lead you step by step because, in your uncertainties and difficulties, God wants to use the journey to train your ears to listen to his voice.

 

In the uncertainties and difficulties of life, God says come and walk with me, I want to talk to you. But you say God, how am I going to ___________? To which God says, just walk with me and take the next step. I am training your ears to hear my voice, just walk with me, one step at a time; walk by faith and not by sight. I am with you.