“For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’.” (Romans 1:17)
For those of you who missed last week’s column, I told a moving story about a funeral I recently attended. It was held at my church and my pastor’s message for the family came from the 19th Chapter of Job.
Job is normally not a book of the Bible on which pastors will rely for words of comfort to a grieving family. In fact, my pastor readily admitted that Job was not his choice. It was God’s. So in obedience to what he genuinely felt was a word from the Lord, he explained to a mourning family that he was going to trust God’s instruction, even if it didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.
We were all stunned when the mother of that son stood in testimony and shared how she had thought about the very same verses just a couple of weeks earlier. She had wondered if she would react with the same strength and faith that she saw in Job. She then turned to my pastor, thanked him for being obedient, and boldly proclaimed, just like Job, “I know my Redeemer lives. And I shall see him with my own eyes.”
Well I left that service forever changed. Why can’t I hear God like that?
I have examined my life a great deal over the last few weeks. I think I know why I don’t hear God like my pastor hears him.
For starters, I don’t work at it like he does. I remember one Saturday morning a couple of years ago when we got together for a round of golf. I was to meet him at the church early that morning. When I arrived, I saw him waiting in his car and drove by to get his attention. I was in a van and therefore able to look down on him as I passed by. There he sat, waiting patiently, reading his Bible.
Paul said, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) His point is it’s really not all that hard to hear God. The trick is taking the time to read his Word so you can hear what he’s got to say. If you want the kind of faith that will give you the courage to stand up at a funeral and preach from the Book of Job, spend more time in God’s Word!
Our associate pastor had the rare chance to preach a few Sunday mornings ago. He reminisced about one of his interviews with our pastor. The subject of prayer came up and Pastor Valimont told him that he expected the pastoral staff to spend a couple of hours every day in prayer. He jokingly replied, “Well I guess I’ll have to cut back.”
The truth is most of us spend almost no time in prayer. And when we do pray, how many of us stop telling God about our problems long enough to listen to what he might have to say to us? Is there really any wonder why many of us don’t hear God?
Our pastors don’t have special connections. They hear God because they devote the time it takes to get to know him, through his Word and in prayer. And when they do hear him speak, they realize that it’s not a matter of choice, it’s all about obedience. Jesus said it this way: “Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as ‘Lord,’ but they still won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)
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