Lord, my heart was filled with wrong.

Now you are filled with wrath.

You are angry with me.

Frustrated.

Disappointed.

How I mourn and long to mend our marred relationship!

I eat ashes for food.

I consume tears for drink.

Yet even in my failure, I have faith in our future.

For your compassion is even greater than your wrath.

Your love is even hotter than your anger.

Mercy, Lord.

Have mercy.

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Longing to Listen

A former member of our congregation stopped by our church office recently.  “What’s going on?” I asked her.  “Well,” she said, “I finally retired.  But now I’m not sure what to do.  I guess I’m in a season of discernment.  I’m trying to listen to God and discover what he wants me to do next.”

In some ways, her description of her life-stage fits many of us.  For those who are truly seeking a more significant spiritual life, listening seems to be the one commonality.  We’re listening for God’s guidance in our work.  We’re listening for God’s leadership in our relationships.  We’re listening for God’s direction in major decisions.  We’re listening for God’s answers to circumstances that puzzle us.  For more and more of us, life with Jesus is a life of listening.

In his book The Power of a Whisper Bill Hybels focuses on about twenty individuals in the Bible who heard God in a distinct way.[i] These include Adam and Eve, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Balaam, Joshua, Samuel, Job, Zechariah, Joseph, Mary, Jesus, Philip, Peter, and Paul.  Each was blessed with direct interaction with and instruction from God.  Each heard from the Lord.  Many of us long for this very thing.  We hunger for a fresh and living word from the One who made us and loves us.

Hearing by Reading

Thankfully, this craving can be satisfied through the meditative reading of Scripture.  Marjorie Thompson calls this “spiritual reading”:

“Spiritual reading is reflective and prayerful.  It is concerned not with speed or volume but with depth and receptivity.  That is because the purpose of spiritual reading is to open ourselves to how God may be speaking to us in and through any particular text.  The manner of spiritual reading is like drinking in the words of a love letter or pondering the meaning of a poem.  It is not like skittering over the surface of a popular magazine or plowing through a computer manual.  We are seeking not merely information but formation.”[ii]

The meditative reading of Scripture is one of the most promising ways to perceive the hushed voice of God.  It is based on a singular conviction: God still speaks.  He is not mute.  He not silent.  God has not lost his voice.  We have lost our ears.  Just as he did to Adam, Moses, and Mary, so God still addresses any person who humbly seeks an audience with him in the pages of his word.  He may express himself in many other ways.  But most certainly does so through the words of the Bible.

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[ii]Marjorie Thompson, Soul Feast (Westminster John Knox, 1985), 18 (emphasis added).

There is none like you Lord!

Such splendor and strength!

May all the earth sing to you:

the families of the nations,

the fish of the sea,

the fields brimming with crops,

and the forests filled with creatures.

May your whole creation become a chorus whose song is you.

May my voice join creation’s chorus in praising you today.

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I see this every day, Lord.

The widow, the immigrant, and the orphan.

How they fall victim to vile people!

The evildoers seek to exterminate them.

The arrogant assume you do not see and do not care.

But they are as senseless as they are selfish.

Does the Lord who crafted the human eye not also see all human activity?

I know you see what I see.

May your vision Lord lead you to right all that is wrong.

May no injustice go unnoticed by you today.

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Lord, each moment I am mourning.

I’m crying around the clock.

Why?

Because you’ve abandoned me.

Like everyone else, you have left me.

I’m flat on my back.  Both feet in the grave.

Lord, bring an end to this nightmare.

Because right now darkness is my only friend.

Lord, my troubles overflow.

I am discouraged.

I am distressed.

But your love also overflows.

You are caring.

You are compassionate.

As a result, my trust now overflows.

I am safe.

I am secure.

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God, every time the powerful meet together, you take a seat at their table.

Though unseen, you see.

Though unaddressed, you address.

And you say to them, ”Strengthen the weak.  Stand up for the orphans.  Rescue the needy.  Pursue the wicked.”

But the powerful ignore your words.  They fail to consider your call.

Therefore, God, take charge.  Take over.

Do what they will not.

Strengthen the weak.  Stand up for the orphans.  Rescue the needy.  Pursue the wicked.

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O God, we are your vine.

You removed us from dusty and hard dirt.

You replanted us into soft and moist soil.

Like the sun, your face warmed us.

Like the clouds, your grace watered us.

But evil people now trample on us.

Selfish people now stomp on us.

Save us, O God.

Drive away those who treat us like trash.

Make us once more green, strong, and fruitful.

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The land lies devastated, Lord.

The bodies lie unburied, food for birds and beasts.

How long, O Lord, must we endure this?

Bring an end to our pain and to the powers that caused it.

Let your compassion come speedily.

Be the Shepherd we so desperately need.

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O God…

Evil looms large in this land.

Wickedness runs wild on this earth.

There is no place untouched by the inky fingers of iniquity.

Even the holiest places are frequented by this vile visitor.

But you, O God, are greater.

You own day and night.

You handcrafted the sun and moon.

You established the boundaries of earth.

You invented summer and winter.

There is no evil you cannot overcome.

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