Six Words

Simple words, spoken to a simple man, by an infinite God. What an incredible thing to think that God speaks to us. But I mean why wouldn’t He, He created us after all, why would He have created us if He didn’t want to interact with us in some way. I know some people who actually talk to their goldfish, as if the slimey little things could actually understand what was being said. Dude, I’m not positive (because number one I’ve never been a goldfish and number two I’ve never read any clinical studies about it), but I’m pretty sure your goldfish can’t hear you let alone even begin to understand you. And yet for some reason we try. My point being that God does actually speak to us, He desires to communicate and converse in a relational way, even though we are quite often just slightly more predisposed to hearing and understanding His voice than a goldfish is to hearing and understanding our voice.

Which is why I am thankful that He chooses to speak to me in simple terms, because I am a simple man, that is, and I’ll just say it… I’m not very smart. I don’t mean like I’m a moron or anything like that, but I’m for sure not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I’ve often said that I’m just barely smart enough to even realize that I’m not that smart. I’ve seen a lot of people who are not very smart who actually think they are quite brilliant. It’s not a pretty sight, although at times it can be kind of fun to watch, but then again at other times it can be completely exasperating.

But back to the point that He speaks to us. Yes He does. I recall the time very early on in my relationship with the Lord and I was just beginning to seriously pursue fellowship with other believers, and some of the things that they were saying and the way they were saying it just really boggled my mind. I mean they would say things like “Yeah the Lord really spoke to my heart and He impressed on me to do this or that”, I just kept hearing these people talk about how God spoke to them in some way and they said it in what seemed to me to be kind of a casual or even flippant way, as if it was no big deal. Well I was certain that this had to be one of the most outrageous things I had ever heard. As they were sharing about how “God had spoken to them” I kept looking out of the corner of my eye at everyone else in the room because I was sure I would see eyeballs popping and jaws dropping at these spectacular claims, I was awestruck! This is the God of the universe we’re talking about!

Well that was a few decades ago now, and those early days of hearing others tell of hearing the voice of God, experiencing His leading, and sensing His presence awakened a desire in me to know Him, to experience Him to the fullest with every aspect of my being. I wanted to hear his voice just like they did, but I never wanted it to ever become too casual, I never want to lose the sense of awe, the fascination, the thrill of just hearing His slightest whisper, of feeling His gentle touch.

This is still an ongoing process for me, hearing His voice I mean, I’m quite sure He most likely is speaking to me a lot more that I am picking up on. There’s probably a lot of good stuff that He has made pretty plain to me that still just goes over my head. The thing is when I miss it many times my wife will catch it and then she’ll have to lay it out there for me, which in itself can be a humbling experience, but is one that I am grateful for (although not right away).

But the desire to hear His voice is strong in me, can you really say you desire to hear His voice? I’m asking you, seriously, not a casual kind of wishful thinking, an unrealistic I’m waiting for an audible voice kind of desire. I mean a desperate “GOD I WANT TO KNOW YOU, I WANT TO HEAR YOU” cry from the depths of your soul. He responds to that. And the more you hear Him and the more you know Him, it just stirs that desire to want Him even more, because He is just so vast.

So the Lord spoke to me recently as I was reading and meditating His word (which is how He speaks to us the vast majority of the time by the way). Don’t get shook up because I use the word “meditating”, it just means I was thinking about it, you know, pondering it. Here’s the thing, when the Lord does speak something to you, here’s the typical response (at least it usually is for me): “What was that Lord?” “What did you say?” “Can you please repeat that?” “What exactly do you mean by that?” “Can you please have at least three people tell me the exact same thing so that I know it’s you?”

Look it’s ok to ask questions when the Lord speaks to you, in fact most of the time what He speaks is designed so as to cause us to ask questions – it’s His way of engaging us, in leading us to a deeper more intimate place with Him, of creating avenues for dialog and revelation and so much more.

So like I was saying, the Lord spoke to me recently. In the spirit of “pure and simple” (because as I said, I am a simple man) He spoke to me six words. Ah there it is finally, the title of the blog, I was wondering when we would finally get to that. So what were the six words? I’ll tell you next time. No not really, this isn’t a television series, these are the six words:
Love Hard
Stand Firm
Stay Free

Of course when He spoke these words I went through the whole series of questions that I listed previously. Which has led me on a journey that in just these few simple words there is a breadth and a depth of discovery that draws me closer to Him and brings a deeper revelation into His heart. The next few blog entries I’ll take you along on that journey and we’ll see where these six simple words will lead us.