Testing, Testing, Anybody There?

Have you ever had the experience of tuning into your small transistor radio, when suddenly you hear an echo in the distance, meaning that someone nearby is listening to the same station as you are? I’ve had that experience quite a number of times. Whereas maybe you did hear the sound in the distance before you tuned in, it only became meaningful when you switched on your transistor radio.

Well, that’s a beautiful picture of how God speaks to his children. The radio in the distance is God’s voice, and the small transistor radio in your hand is the bible. Without tuning in (that is, reading your bible consistently) you cannot hear God’s voice. John 1:1 says that ... the Word was with God, and the Word was God. God’s word is a part of Himself, and you cannot separate the two from each other. So go on, snuggle down in the sofa with your God, and the next time you have a vital decision to take, hear Him speak clearly to you!

Do you trust God? No, I mean really...?

Do you trust God? The ready answer of most would be 'Yes'. But do you really trust God, especially when He is leading you down an unknown and windy path? Here is what God asked one of His prophets to do. "Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel.!!! And he did it as well! Can you guess who it was? Read all about it in Ezekiel 4. Now this would have been a real challenge for me. I would have questioned and questioned, and finally come to the conclusion that it could not be God speaking to me.

How badly do you want to follow Him? Would you throw all caution to the winds if the going got too tough for you? If God told you to become a modern day John the Baptist, eating locusts and wild honey, and risking the condemnation of the whole world, would you do it? If He told you to give all your worldly wealth away, would you still follow, completely trusting Him to work things out for your good? If God told you to go and be best friends with the very one who stabbed you in the back, and you heard Him clearly, would you go ahead, trusting in the goodness of His name?

Sometimes God tells us to do very difficult things, and it takes real faith and trust to know that everything is going to be alright afterwards. This is what Ps 9:10 says: Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.