Listening For God’s Word

Could it be that for all the thought we put into critical decisions in life, we still miss the answer? Perhaps knowingly, perhaps out of ignorance, we leave out a single, critical, and indispensible source of information. As much as we invest time, worry, research, hair-tugging, and hand-wringing in crucial life decisions, even the best among us may miss the answer. After all, the best we can do as humans is to make an informed decision based on the best information we have.

 This struggle is the situation Samuel faced when visiting the home of Jesse on a mission to anoint the future king of Israel. God told Samuel he would find the one among Jesse’s sons, so he came prepared for the ceremonial anointing proper to a future king. After seeing even the first of Jesse’s sons, Samuel was convinced his search was over…then God spoke…again.

~Samuel looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is here before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel: “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.”~

(Samuel 16:6-7)

 We see even more clearly the same confusion in the Pharisees we hear about in today’s Gospel.

 The Pharisees were, laudably, very learned in the Law as given to Moses. They even boast of this fact in addressing the man to whom Jesus had just given the gift of sight. A man who had been unable to see just experienced sight for the first time, thanks to Jesus. Yet, in their thirst to discredit him — either the man who had been healed or Jesus would do for their purposes — the Pharisees were blinded by what was, for them, concrete.

 Doing work on the Sabbath was directly contradictory to the law, and they claim that this “work” negated all of the divine power the people had been experiencing from Jesus, because it takes place in that sacred period of time. Based on so much evidence elsewhere in the Gospels, it’s no stretch to believe that had this event taken place in midweek, this would not have defeated the Pharisees’ stubbornness.

 What the Pharisees were lacking was God’s next word. Or rather, God’s next Word.

~They ridiculed him and said, “You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from.”

The man answered and said to them, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him…If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.”~

(John 9:28-29)

 We can fall into the very same trap when we leave faith in the realm of rules or principles, or when we leave God out of the equation altogether. I am referring to mundane choices that we make based solely on what we know by observation, like the information that tempted Samuel and that to which the Pharisees were in thrall. As a loving Father, indeed the very pattern of loving fatherhood, God is deeply and even personally invested in our path.

 When facing choices in life, no matter how big or small, we should listen for God’s next word.  The voice of the Holy Spirit, to which we’re attuned by the grace of Confirmation, may give us the insight that cinches our resolve — or more frighteningly, leads us to contradict what we may observe. God has a vested interest in your next step, in your good, however painful the immediate effects of our choices may or may not be.

 The Pharisees were maybe too stuck on the mechanics of the law to recognize what God was doing right before their very eyes. Samuel was, for a moment, blinded by what he saw, until God super ceded a good option with the best. What follows shouldn’t be ignored either, as “from that day on, the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David. (Samuel 16:13a)” The immediate fallout from our God-led decisions is not always pleasant, but in the midst of any circumstantial ugliness, we can be assured of his intimate presence.

 Have you ever experienced God’s spirit “rushing” upon you? What would that be like? What would happen in your heart from that day forward? How would you be changed if wisdom’s Author and Editor-in-Chief deigned to rush into your life?

 Note that I didn’t ask how your circumstances would be changed. God’s interest is for our good, not necessarily our comfort. Yet, such beauty is available to us if we begin to modify our choices based on His voice, and His prompting.  Take to heart what Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians in today’s epistle: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord…”

Is God doing something new in your heart?  Is God calling you to a step that only makes sense through the understanding of faith? What choice could you make with faith that would open your heart to the ever-ready rushing of His presence and Spirit?  Is there a darkness within you that God is eager to turn to light?