One Man's Voice

This weekend at Celebration Church, Pastor Stovall reminded us that we were designed to worship and trust God and illustrated it powerfully with the life of Job. So, I decided to read the account in the book of Job again and refresh myself with God’s working in his life. What stood out to me is that throughout the story we see time after time Job doing a lot of self-reflection, culminating in self-mortification – cursing the day he was born.  By the time you get to Chapter 42, he is taking back everything he said and sitting in dust and ashes to show his repentance.  Then we see a huge shift take place. The bible says in

Job 42:10 “When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes.” nlt

Job shifts the focus from his suffering, from blaming God, from looking back, to repentance and praying for his friends. He’s recognizing their needs over his. But wait – they didn’t endure the calamity, he did. But Job shows his growth through this process, it really didn’t matter. He prayed for them and notice what follows – God sends Job restoration and real comfort. Verse 11 says “Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him…”

Isn’t it just like God? He wants us to be a blessing to others, and in that, we will find our blessing? He reminds us to put others before ourselves and remember that He is our Father and will take care of our needs. He encourages us to pray for others, only for us to discover, that He has already moved on the hearts of sometimes “strangers” to pray for us.

I believe with all my heart that God would help us out just because, but especially when – we first help a brother out.

As we develop this idea of questioning, I want to pause at the first thing the scripture tells us Jesus was doing (Luke 2:46). It was simply listening. Before you can question – you must first be prepared to listen to the response, unless you don’t care about the response. Listening is key. As a matter of fact learning to listen to God is the first rule of success in life.

Listening is how we get to know the heart of God. Luke 10:39 tells us that “…Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.” It is here she exemplified that above all we do, worry about, or focus on, Jesus said in verse 42 “there is one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it…” I believe with all my heart -in our quest to discover God’s will, if we would just not be so focused on telling Him our will, we might just hear His. In the stillness of God’s presence, listening to His voice, we begin to know and understand His heart. Prayer is and should always be a two-way conversation with our Father.

Jesus not only understood how to listen to His Father, he also valued what others had to say. How do I know that? He listened to them. Go back to the story in Luke 2:46, even though the religious leaders were so far off in their understanding of the Heart of His Father – He took time to listen to them. He placed value on their words. I believe you will find that when you offer that to others, it may not guarantee that they give you that in return, but maybe, just maybe – it might earn you the privilege to be listened to. Before He questioned, He listened. Let’s really make an attempt to listen to one another. More than that, let us excel in listening to our Heavenly Father. Listening to everything He wants to teach us. 

As a dad I so want to prepare my kids for life. I see so much potential in them. Of course its understandable, I want them to have a stronger relationship with God, to fulfill their dreams, to enjoy life to the max, and live up to their highest potential. What then does that mean? What do I need to teach them so they can:

·      Make right choices;

·      Do the right things;

·      Connect with the right relationships; and

·      Get to the right answers

I mused over this (for a long time) and have come to one conclusion – I can’t give them the answers. I can’t simply teach them all the right answers. Life will put them through tests just like it did me and they must find and choose the right answers. Not that i am an expert or always get it right. Many times in my life I have made foolish decisions even though I knew better. Of course I can teach them the ways of God, demonstrate to them how to live and serve Him, but at the end of the day – they must choose, they must discover for themselves. I have resolved that I must teach them “How to ask the right questions.”

Over the next few posts I will define how this looks and why I have come to this realization. But just so you don’t think I’ve gone off the deep end. It struck me that when Jesus was a lad and his parents couldn’t find him, the bible says in Luke 2:46 “they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions.” Jesus mastered the art of listening and asking questions. Later on in the scripture we see Jesus answering many questions posed to him with a question. You see – an honest search for the right question leads the questioner to examine his/her motives and eventually positions them to find the right answer. I want my boys to learn to ask the right questions, to honestly pray that way, to learn that way, to seek after God that way. When they seek in truth – they will find Truth.