You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13)
Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3)
So many people today are searching for answers to all of the inconveniences we face in 2020. When I woke up this morning, I realized it was Friday the 13th, 2020. I nearly jumped back into the bed, covered my head with the covers out of fear of what may come next. I thought that today would be full of inconveniences, and my computer will likely break due to this mysterious day. I’m sure many of you had the same thought. So, I’m glad you got up and started moving this morning because it’s going to be a great day!
God speaks through His written word
Over the past several years, a phenomenon has pierced through Christianity. Others speak on behalf of God with a personal application to your life. They write these thoughts in books that fly off the shelf as if they had wings. People can’t wait to read the next day’s comments about their lives. The author fills every page with personal thoughts about Scripture and how it works in your life. “Jesus Calling” is a book that potentially could be very questionable and misleading at a minimum because the author places herself in the mind of God and His wisdom and instruction for your life.
I want to encourage you to pick up the Bible yourself and read it. That is the way God speaks. God cares for you and desires to communicate a specific message to you through His word. When you trust the thoughts of anyone else who personalizes Scripture and speaks it as a narrative to you after having some existential experience, it can be very dangerous. You then rely on that person’s personalization of a passage that may not be accurate. She sits with pen and paper waiting for God to speak to her, and then she writes it down.
This is not a Scriptural practice and is not some form of journaling. It’s waiting on God to provide some new revelation that He doesn’t give because all we need is in Scripture already. Does that make sense? Remember, It’s Friday the 13th.
I’m not saying stop listening to people who you trust and who teach Scripture. I am saying that God speaks personally to us through His word.
God speaks when we seek Him diligently
Jeremiah 29:13 tells us that God is available to us when we seek Him with all our hearts. Let’s be honest with each other today. How many of us seek God with all our heart? If I’m honest with myself, I can’t say that I always do that. I know…you’re saying, “But you’re a pastor.” That’s right. No excuses from me. Can you imagine what God would show us in His word if we determined to diligently seek Him through what He has already told us in His word? We wouldn’t see 2020 as a problem but as an opportunity.
We would understand that this world is just our temporary home. Our time here is short, and our citizenship is really in heaven (Philippians 3:20-21). We should set our eyes on the prize for finishing well (2 Timothy 4:7). We should eagerly seek to understand the Lord’s general and specific plans for our lives.
God speaks when we call Him diligently
Jeremiah 33:3 tells us to call on God. When we pray and seek Him, He shows us so many incredible things through His word. He turns our disappointments into opportunities to grow and show others how He encourages us. When all looks lost, He is there to comfort us.
For many, He is our last resort. We’ve done everything we can to fix things on our own, and nothing works. So then we finally call out to God, and He hears us.
Have you ever thought about why God would listen to us when we exhaust every other option before calling out to him? It’s because of His immense love for us. He loves us, and He’s not playing hide and seek. He’s playing wait to hear.
Will you call to Him diligently and allow Him to speak to you through His word today? Just you, God, and His word.