Jonathan Evans

Listening is an act of faith

 

Listening is an act of faith. It is being awake to God and his speaking personally to us. It is being aware of God and that he is personally present with us. Wakefulness, watchfulness are conditions for listening. Too often, though, we are disciples asleep, unaware, unconvinced that God is in this place.

 

"Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me?” (John 14:9)  

 

It is much easier to think of faith as an act of speaking on our part, of God waiting on us. And so it often is. Just as often, though, it is an act of not speaking on our part, of our waiting on God. The faith to wait is as vibrant as the faith to move.

 

In fact, our faith both moves and is moved. By the time my faith moves to listen to God, I realize God has already made the first move and drawn me to himself.

 

In many ways, listening by faith is like surrendering by faith. By the time God asks you to surrender all, you realize that you’ve already given him all. This last act of surrender is simply the culmination of an ongoing series of acts, of surrendering a little bit of yourself at a time.

 

So listening is ongoing. Little by little knowing more and more. Those who wait until they come to a sermon to listen for God will find it difficult to hear him. But those whose listening is ongoing daily will come and find it easy to hear him.  

 

For all of us who come to the preaching of God’s Word, we can either sit and wait for something to grab our attention or we can come already attentive to “God with us". We can come fully awake, aware, and ready to listen in on the ongoing conversation of God with us, to receive the living and active word of God deep into our hearts. 

 

“Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” (Luke 8:18)

Fixing the problem and practicing the solution

 

“...but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth...” Jeremiah 9:24

  

God could solve a lot of his problems instantly. Instead, he practices love, justice, and righteousness. 

 

When I assess a problem my impulse is to fix it immediately. So I must often fight against that as my default, initial response and learn to aim for something more, something beyond just fixing the problem: practicing the solution. 

 

Practicing is that habitual, constant, and steady commitment to a future goal through a present activity. Practicing includes fixing a problem, but it also precedes and proceeds that. There are harder words that a young child won't be able to read if they don’t first start with learning and practicing easier words like “and”, “he”, “dad”, “is”, “great”. 

 

If the problem is an offense, I can "fix it" with my forgiveness. But I must go beyond that; I must also practice the solution of becoming a forgiving person. Otherwise, I will eventually find forgiveness impossible, as futile as trying to draw water up from a dry well. 

 

In order to love, show justice or be righteous when called for, I must practice (dig, cultivate, replenish, refresh) these things before and after the circumstance or problem calling for them arises. I must become the kind of tree that produces the kind of fruit that I want. It is difficult to tell the truth (fruit) if I’ve made a practice of lying (tree). But far more difficult is it to practice the truth if I don’t delight in the truth, if I'm not a lover of the truth.

 

To be a truth-lover, or a justice-lover, or a forgiveness-lover, you must be a God-lover. To be a God-lover means to delight in God, to understand and know him. He is the sum and total of truth, the source and substance of love, the foundation and fountain of justice and mercy, kindness and forgiveness, holiness and righteousness. If I delight in him, I will delight in what he delights in; I will practice what he practices.

 

 

Delight in God is a far better and more insightful and faithful practitioner than our own wisdom or strength or resources. "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,..." (Jeremiah 9:23). We might be able to temporarily fix our problems, but the ultimate solution to lasting change is not found in us.  "...but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (9:24)

Serve. But every single day?

Learning to serve is perhaps one of the hardest things to learn, to do, to get in the habit of. Yes, it should become a habit. It should be something we do day in and day out, even at times without thinking, without blinking, without hesitation.

 

 

Being last is something we’re not naturally inclined towards. And yet putting others first is the only sure road to experiencing joy, mercy, forgiveness, kindness, generosity, grace, and love. 

 

Is it possible to experience the abundant life of Jesus if we resist or refuse living the way he lived? “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” (John 13:15) 

 

This new life is a new way of living. “Abide in my love.” (John 15:9)

 

Start with someone close to you. What’s one thing that you can do for them every single day? A kiss before you get out of bed. A morning cup of coffee. Sweeping the floor before leaving for work. Doing the dishes before going to bed. Asking about their day. Asking if they need anything. 

 

A servant’s heart is a creative heart; it sees endless opportunities.

 

Yet even when the things we do become monotonous, even boring, over time we cultivate contentment – deep satisfaction and gratitude. That awkward feeling of doing something that you rarely do has been replaced with the genuine disappointment of not having done what you want to do every single day.

Why am I rushed? Why am I in a hurry?

I pulled away, then stopped a second and a few inches short of hitting him. And not a stranger; someone I knew! Thankfully he was in a kind mood.

 

A good way to examine the spiritual condition of your soul is not how long you pray, how much Bible you read or how many church services you attend. A good way to tell how healthy your soul is is how quickly you want to go from one location to another; from one task to another; from one conversation to another.

 

Inside there’s a hurry, a feeling, a pressure, a gnawing sense of having to get somewhere or needing to get something done as quickly as possible. So we drive faster, walk faster, talk faster, eat faster, pray faster, read faster, and even try to go to sleeper faster so we can get up and start faster.

 

It’s hard to imagine Jesus being in a hurry. Busy, yes. Rushed, no. To read about Jesus is to notice a man not less busy than us, but as busy if not more. Yet He had time to touch the sick, to eat with sinners, to embrace children, to talk with strangers, to tell stories, to teach others. In short, Jesus carefully noticed and fully paid attention to all that was going on around Him. 

 

Am I too rushed to notice? Am I in too big a hurry to pay attention? Making the most of our days means recognizing and responding to the divine opportunities God gives us (Ephesians 5:16), opportunities we’ll miss or even lose if we don’t have time. 

 

Drive slower. Yes, for the safety of those around you, but also for the health of your soul. Teach it to keep pace with Jesus who is often neither before us nor beside us, but behind us watching as we hurry on ahead of Him, yet waiting patiently for us to notice.

Don't grow impatient on the way

The path of God's will for our life will take us across many different spiritual terrains. 

There is the garden path, along which the stream flows, the trees grow, and the fruit is abundant. We can sit, rest, and enjoy life without any anxiety or fear.

There is the mountain path that leads us up to the heights of God's glory, inexpressible and full of joy. We look out, we breathe in. We want to live here, away from it all!

On these paths we find our way easily and enjoyably. But there are other paths, paths we might not choose for ourselves.

The other mountain path leads us up and around to the place of testing, trial, death to self. We still trust, but we can barely breathe; we want never to return here, but we know there's just one way out.

There is the path that takes us through the valley, where the clinging darkness of fear and uncertainty surround. We don't know where our next step will take us – towards a clearing or further in. We struggle to keep calm, our emotions and thoughts confusing us, controlling us.

There is the desert path that takes us through doubt, anger, grumbling, discouragement, and despair. Here "in the middle of nowhere", with no end in sight, no water on the horizon, no sign of life anywhere around us, we begin to give up hope.

Down every difficult path we walk in obedience to God, we come face to face with an unassuming, yet dangerous temptation: to choose our own path.

"And the people became impatient on the way." (Number 21:4) And so we have, and so we will. But we must remember that "it is easier going out of the way when we are in (on the right path) than going in when we are out (on the wrong path)." (John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress) 

God has not promised to go with us down the path of our own choosing. But He has promised that He will lead us down His path, and if we follow, be with us every step of the way.

"The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way" (Psalm 27:23).

There's no thermostat for your faith

Outside, it's winter and cold. Inside, the thermostat is set to a "warm" 66 degrees. Today, though, that's not warm enough for my wife or my oldest son! A degree or two can make a big difference they tell me.

Set at either 66 or 68, the thermostat automatically kicks on the heat whenever the temperature drops a single degree. Our spiritual life doesn't come equipped with a thermostat like that.

 

When the temperature of our walk with God grows cold, the heat of the Holy Spirit and the warmth of God's presence doesn't automatically kick on. When we begin to faint under the intense heat of temptation and trial, the air conditioning and cool air of the Spirit doesn't automatically begin to blow across our heart.

Faith is activity. It doesn't involve you and I passively doing nothing while we wait on God to do everything. Faith is looking to God, running towards God, and taking hold of God.

Moses wanted to die (Numbers 11:10-15), David was hunted (1 Samuel 24, 26), Elijah was terrified and asked God to kill him (1 Kings 19:1-8), Jeremiah wished he'd never been born (Jeremiah 20:14-18), Paul lost all hope of staying alive (Acts 27:13-20). They each had faith in God and yet God sent each of them back into their circumstances! The nerve!

Although God didn't rescue them from their circumstances, He rescued them through their circumstances. In other words, their external circumstances would eventually change, but each of their hearts would first be refined, and rescued from an internal place of trust in God that if left unattended and uncultivated would never grow and turn into a flourishing garden.

Though temperatures change externally, internally we learn to keep our heart warmed and/or refreshed in God.

How?

Along the path of our faith and obedience, what God requires (asks) of us, He also provides (answers) for us. He did this, first, by securing everything for us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ ; second, by sending us the Holy Spirit who brings and provides us with all that Jesus secured.

This doesn't involve the Spirit living our life for us, but Him living through us and us living our lives through Him. It is Jesus Christ who lives in us by the Spirit, and the life we now live we live by the Spirit of God to the glory of Jesus who gave Himself for us!

In the end, the will of God is not the comfort of man, but the knowledge and glory of God. Our joy is only found there, in Him. To have faith, to trust, to have hope, to obey God is how we come, not to secure what we think we need or want, but to receive what we really need and what God really wants: to see, hear and know Him more.

A knowledgable life is far more satisfying than a comfortable life. 

The things around which your heart will grow

There are small things and seemingly harmless things that we welcome into our hearts and lives. These thoughts, affections, desires, motives or emotions appear unexpectedly, uninvited. Yet like cold strangers in the warming comfort of friends, they soon make themselves at home.

If ignored, after a while these strangers become friends; these small things become big things; these secondary things become primary things; these good things become ultimate things. What once we were suspicious of or convicted by, we now ignore or embrace. 

Be careful! 

Be careful of the things around which your heart will grow. Like tree roots around rocks, your heart will grow steadily, slowly and securely around thoughts, affections, etc., making it nearly impossible to dislodge them.

If left to itself, the heart will always turn inward; it will always seek to satisfy itself. The heart is charmingly deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9), ever expanding and reaching and grasping for what it blindly believes can satisfy its needs and desires. It is ever swallowing as much as it wants of what it wants.

What do you really want?

If uprooted like a great tree, what would be found clenched tightly in your heart? If cut open like the belly of a great fish, what would be found digesting inside your heart?  

Let us yield and give our thoughts, affections, desires, motives and emotions to God, the One who truly loves us, who fully knows us and who clearly discerns our needs and what we should really want. He has not left us to ourselves! 

One of the most dangerous things you can ask God

One of the most dangerous things you can do is to ask God to search your heart in the midst of conflict or trial or pain. It may delay the victory or the rescue or the relief you're after. 

David writes, "May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you." (Psalm 25:21) Here the Psalmist is asking God to save him from others; he's praying and waiting, looking and hoping. 

 

We've all be there, in the middle of something we've been dragged into, something we've fallen into, something we've walked into. The primary objective is to GET OUT! 

 

But for the Psalmist, being saved and/or vindicated is NOT the most important thing. Having a right heart is the most important thing. It's as if he's saying, "God even if I'm never rescued or vindicated, even if I'm never getting out of here, let my heart be upright before you, let my heart be pure."

 

Consider Psalm 7:1-2: "O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver." There's no question David WANTS to be rescued! 

 

But it's not David's ultimate, deepest, desire.

"O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust." (Psalm 7:3-5)

One of the most dangerous and courageous things to do is to ask God to search your heart in the midst of conflict or trial or pain. When victory is desirable, but not ultimate in your heart, you're walking in a power and strength not your own. Whatever happens, whenever it happens, will only magnify the joy you've ALREADY found. 

Get your emotions under God's control

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God." Psalm 42:5-6

 

Washing dishes, I thought, "I shouldn't be losing my patience like this. Why do I let my emotions take control of me?"

 

If a 5 year old loses control of their emotions, we would deal with it accordingly. We wouldn't tell them they're being immature and need to "grow up". But if a 15 year old or a 25 year old or a 35 year old were to lose control of their emotions and throw a fit, we would tell them they're being immature and should "grow up!". 

 

 

As a christian, I should expect spiritual growth and maturity in the area of my emotions. If I'm always losing my temper, grumbling, anxious, fearful, unhappy, being selfish, etc., I need to ask myself who's in control: me or my emotions? Truer yet, am I submitting to the indwelling Spirit of God, abiding in Him and allowing Him to shape, prune and grow me? Or am I submitting to my emotions and allowing what has happened and how I feel to drive, steer and influence me?

 

The Psalmist asks himself a question: "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?" His feelings are discouraging him, if not torturing and depressing him. His answer? As strange as it sounds, he begins to talk to himself! He stops listening to his feelings and begins speaking truth to his soul, truth concerning God: "Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."  

 

God is in the midst of and over all the circumstances that surround him. He looks to God – to His faithfulness and to His power. He remembers that his hope is in God, that his salvation is God. He reflects on this and then he reminds himself of this. He stops focusing on his feelings and begins to refocus his attention on God. 

 

Imagine you go for a walk down your favorite path and get lost in the sights, sounds and smells of your surroundings. And then suddenly a thought enters your mind, rapidly it affects your heart and you get lost wandering inside whatever your thoughts and feelings are saying to you.

 

What should you do?

 

Stop listening to yourself and begin talking to yourself!

 

This isn't positive thinking, ritual chanting or magically believing things into existence. This is taking hold of what is already true. And what is already true is God, God who is sovereignly present and sovereignly powerful; God who is dwelling within you by the power of the Holy Spirit; God who is lovingly and wisely conforming you into the image of His Son, Jesus.

 

He is your help, He is your refuge, He is your hope in the midst of emotional chaos and in the face of emotional trial. You can be still, find rest and even fall asleep there (Psalm 3:5-6).

 

Get your emotions under God's control.

I Love The Bible! part 3

London pastor and preacher, Charles Spurgeon, told this tale:

Once upon a time there was a gardener who grew an enormous carrot. He took it to his king and said, “My lord, this is the greatest carrot I’ve ever grown or ever will grow; therefore, I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you.” The king was touched and discerned the man’s heart, so as he turned to go, the king said, “Wait! You are clearly a good steward of the earth. I own a plot of land right next to yours. I want to give it to you freely as a gift, so you can garden it all.” The gardener was amazed and delighted and went home rejoicing.

But there was a nobleman at the king’s court who overheard all this, and he said, “My! If that is what you get for a carrot, what if you gave the king something better?” The next day the nobleman came before the king, and he was leading a handsome black stallion. He bowed low and said, “My lord, I breed horses, and this is the greatest horse I’ve ever bred or ever will; therefore, I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you.” But the king discerned his heart and said, “Thank you,” and took the horse and simply dismissed him. The nobleman was perplexed, so the king said, “Let me explain. That gardener was giving me the carrot, but you were giving yourself the horse.

 

BEAUTIFUL COMMANDS?

A man-centered understanding of and approach to God finds God useful – what I want and what God can do. I give to receive. A Jesus-centered understanding of and approach to God finds God beautiful – who He is and what He has done. I give because I've received.

 

We often think God’s beauty is only found in His blessings and not in His commands. But the Psalmist would disagree with us: "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is IN the law of the Lord, and ON his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2, emphasis mine) Here the Psalmist’s delight is rooted in the Word of God and the fruit of that delight is not only meditation, but obedience. He finds beauty IN God’s commands.

 

Is this unusual, weird even? Who of us LOVES, even delights to obey and submit to authority? Who of us finds God’s commands in the bible beautiful?

 

Ever since the garden of Eden, humanity has been trying to divorce God’s blessings from God’s commands; but ever since Calvary, God has joined His blessings and commands in His Son, Jesus Christ. 

 

Can I, then, really love Jesus and not obey His Word? Or can Jesus truly love me and not make demands of me in His Word?

 

TO OBEY OR TO LOVE?

In Jesus’ last words to His disciples, He commands them to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20). His command is not only completely legitimate because of His authority (28:18), but completely possible because of His presence (28:20). 

 

But Jesus’ words still provoke a question: Why does He say “teaching them to observe” (or obey) and not “teaching them to love”? 

 

The answer is that for Jesus, love is obedience and obedience is love. There is no true love for God where there is not found obedience towards God. Likewise, there is no true obedience to God where there is not found love for God. 

 

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments”. (John 14:15) 

 

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me “. (14:21) 

 

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word...Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.” (14:23-24)  

 

“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.” (1 John 2:3-5)

 

KNOWLEDGE OR OBEDIENCE?

As Christians, we often wrongly assume that the more we know about God the more we will obey God. But having biblical information about God is not the same as having a spiritual reality of God. No one knew more about the Scriptures than many of the pharisees did, yet no one loved Jesus less than they did. But there were many who knew little by comparison and yet came to know and love Jesus sincerely.

 

Paul teaches us in Romans that the more we disobey what we know of God, the less we come to truly know God (1:18-19). Proverbs teaches us, though, that “the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.” (4:18) The more we obey what we know of God, the more of God we come to truly know. 

 

Obedience begets knowledge. There’s no light into God’s Word apart from obedience to God’s Word. There’s no light for our path in life apart from obedience on God’s path for our life. As christians, there are seasons where it seems like we’re not growing in our understanding of God and His Word and/or are not growing out of our sin and selfish patterns. Perhaps, it is because we are simply not obeying what we understand of God’s Word and taking the step He’s asking us to take, which if we did would give us light for the next step (Psalm 119:104-105) and bring us into a greater degree of knowledge of Him and conformity to Him.

 

HOW IS OBEDIENCE POSSIBLE?

 

The Psalmist cries out, “I hold my feet back from every evil way” (Psalm 119:101). Yes, this is obedience, to not sin. But why? “in order to keep your word.”  The bible is not simply a means to an end. No, I don’t sin BECAUSE I want to keep your word!

 

Again the Psalmist cries, “I turn my feet to your testimonies; I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments” (119:59-60). I not only turn my feet from something, I also turn them towards something. And I turn quickly, without delay, BECAUSE I love You!

 

Our obedience to God is as strong as our love for God. But immediately we feel an inconsolable, unbearable burden upon our hearts. Do we have to prove our love for God to Him? Do we have to earn from Him His love for us? WE DESPAIR: “My love for God is weak then! I disobey and fail to walk in His ways all the time.” WE HOPE: Our obedience is as strong as Jesus’ love; it is rooted in, fueled by and empowered through His love. WE DESPAIR: “Then His love must be weak!“ WE HOPE: No! His love is as strong and perfect as His obedience.

 

Our obedience to Him is only possible because of His love for us! It is His obedience and love that is daily being perfected in our obedience and love, as weak as they sometimes are.  But we hope and rejoice: “whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.” (1 John 2:5)

 

This post is adapted from the sermon I Love The Bible part 3