Listening

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.
~ 1 Corinthians 2:9 (NLT)

Why does it feel like 'the things that God has prepared for those who love him' are usually things that I wish he hadn't prepared? Why does it feel like, when things are going well and good things are happening, that the other shoe is bound to drop soon? I was talking to a friend this morning who has had a fantastic week...which is terrifying because that usually means that crap is on the horizon.

Now, I'm not saying that God is up in heaven somewhere manipulating the world to bring difficult situations into our lives because somehow we're going to be better off for it. But it seems so often that the things God has prepared for us never quite happen the way we'd like.

This is odd because the next part of 1 Cor. 2 tells us that we can know the things God has prepared for us because he has given us his spirit. Because of this, we can know the mind and the heart of God and can have the mind of Christ.

This is such an incredible gift. God has given us his spirit so that we can know his mind, so that we can know his thoughts, so that we can understand what he is thinking and doing. It shouldn't be a mystery. In fact, I think God is probably speaking to us far more often than we're aware of. But we so rarely listen that I think we miss it.

At Christ Zombies last Monday, we were talking about the Holy Spirit and prayer and listening to God. At the end of our time together, I sent the kids out to wander around the parking lot for 10 minutes simply listening to what God had to say to them. This was well out of their comfort zones since most of them wouldn't even profess to be Christians at this point. When we gathered back together to talk about it, there was a profound sense (for at least some of the kids) that they had been in the presence of God. One guy, who was attending for the first time, shared that he heard God inviting him to pray more and spend more time with him. This kid had not had anything to do with God, church, etc. for ten years, yet here in this quiet space, God was drawing and beckoning him to Himself.

What if we spent more time just listening? What if I spent more time just listening? Would the confusion and frustrations about the way life unfolds become a little less murky? Would I have a better grasp on what God is doing in the world and in my life? Would I be able to recognize when the difficult things I face are just things to deal with and when they are attacks of the evil one?

I'm going to shut up now and listen instead...