Final Thoughts on "Hearing God"

The epilogue of “Hearing God” by Dallas Willard may echo much of the book, but it has really stuck with me and I feel his ideas are worth repeating. When thinking about hearing God and how to interpret silence, it really helps to think about where we are. How often do we want to hear from God because we have trouble trusting Him and want to know that everything will be okay? What would we do if God did speak to us? Have we put ourselves in the best position to listen to God? What if he asked us to do something really hard? Willard says “God wants to be wanted, to be wanted enough that we are ready, predisposed, to find him present with us. And if, by contrast, we are ready and set to find ways of explaining away his gentle overtures, he will rarely respond with fire from heaven.” (283)

            Not hearing from God is hard. And yet if we stop listening entirely, if we stop expecting to hear from Him, I think He generally stops speaking. He respects a closed door.

Join me in doing my best to trust that silence has a purpose. That one day all of our questions will be answered. That if we seek Him, we will find Him and have the unmatched beauty of His words.

beth kropf

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what waits for us

I was struck by Caz’s message Sunday about what God promises us. Isaiah 65 talks about a world without untimely death, and where our families our settled. That hits home for me as so many of the people closest to me do not live near me. Caz asked a question at the end about how we would live if we thought about our future. I was kind of hoping he would answer it for us.     

            I don’t know all of the implications of that, but I think I would be much more patient in suffering, and much less selfish in my relationships with others. Relationships are eternal, job stress is not. It is really hard to keep the big picture in mind when we don’t know how our story ends.  I’m sure you have learned by now, dear reader, that I do not offer nice little solutions. I would love for us all to explore and share what that passage in Isaiah means to us.

            But I do think it’s important to hold on to our faith: God has promised a wonderful future for His children. Let us never be so overcome with the present world that we lose sight of that. Let us live in thankfulness and grace.

Beth

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