Can You Hear Me Now?

I just saw the Christian movie, Overcomer, with a group of friends from my church.  We met in a room at the theater after the movie was over to discuss the thoughts we had about what we had seen. Without giving away the plot, one of the main characters was a girl who was a cross-country runner.  In a crucial race, she is able to listen to some pre-recorded coaching using an earbud in one ear. As she runs, she receives encouragement, direction, affirmation, and strategies to help her run the best race she possibly can.

I remarked to the group that I wished that I could hear the Holy Spirit that directly and clearly as I try to run this race of life.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if in each and every situation of your life you could hear the audible voice of God guiding you?  Of course, that kind of constant, tangible guidance wouldn't take much faith and it's not the way that God chooses to direct most people.  Yet, we desperately need His influence along the way.

Yet at any point in the movie race, the runner could have chosen to switch off the device and run the race her own way.  I think sometimes that's what I do.  God uses all kinds of things to speak to us.  His main avenue to get the message across is His Word, but how often do we let other things distract us and neglect reading the remarkable love story He has given us in the Bible?  He uses the words of our brothers and sisters in Christ, but do we discredit their loving correction because it's just coming from another human being?  If you've read much of my writing, you'll know that He uses simple, everyday occurrences to teach lessons, if I'm listening.  He'll do that for you as well.

I guess I'm saying that if we don't already make use of the ways God has already used to communicate to us, why should He give us more?  Sometimes, I haven't obeyed the last direction I heard from Him, so He can't trust me with another yet.  We must walk in the direction of what we have already received in order to have the next steps outlined for us.

Luke 11:28 says in part, "...... blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"