Listening to God Together

Are you good at waiting?  Are you able to wait patiently, to trust that God is doing a good thing when He is silent, when He isn’t answering your prayers?  I’m not sure any of us is good at it 100% of the time. Yet, we are commanded to wait.  How can we just…wait?  Most of us plead with God, complain to God, maybe even whine a little— or a lot. The truth is that we can’t wait for God, not in our own strength.  And, by the way, God doesn’t expect us to.  He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell us and give us His power to wait. David says in verse 13:   I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. David had faith that God would come through for him while he was still alive.  God had always come through for him in the past.  God hid him in His tabernacle.  He set him up upon a rock so that his head was higher than his enemies.  He could see them coming and had time to hide or prepare for battle.

The Lord is a shield about us, and the one who lifts our heads.   This is the Word of the Lord. We wake up every morning now to find that the numbers of those with Covid 19 around us have increased.  The news raises our concerns about the number of hospital beds available, will there be a statewide quarantine back east, will we still be able to get to the grocery store...  I don’t think that the press is being particularly helpful in calming our collective fears. I know 3 people who have had the virus and are recovering !  None of them live in Ventura County.   The first is a woman in her late 30’s who caught it from her son who is in preschool.  Her two children have had mild versions of the virus, and she has had a little tougher time, but is recovering well.  She plans to stay at home for at least 2 more weeks to be sure she is completely recovered.  Her husband has not been sick at all. The couple I know lives back east. They are in their 80’s and contracted

How many of us are praying everyday, “Lord, just make this go away!  Hear my cry, O Lord!”  He could wipe it all away if that were His will.  But maybe this is one of those times when His vision is bigger than ours.  Just like all the other times….  So we wait.  What are you doing while you wait?  I’ve started getting to some things I wouldn’t normally get to, like this blog. I’ve started practicing a new spiritual discipline— Holy Groaning.  I get by myself where no one else is subjected to the sound and I groan before the Lord.  Sometimes I need to cry to let out the tension and express my sadness to God.  He collects those tears…did you know?   Psalm 56:8 You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle . Are they not in Your book? I also like to listen to some of the more somber hymns and choruses and let myself feel what I’m feeling, not putting on a brave face for a moment. It also is good to write some of your thoughts down-- i

Two weeks didn’t sound very long when all of this began.  Why does it feel like such a long time now?  Today the President said we’ll have the economy roaring again by Easter! That sounds great!  But… Easter is still weeks away.   What about the shortages in the grocery store? What about not being able to go see my grandkids? What about stocks and investments that are sinking and sinking?  What about the boredom of watching TV ~ especially when all they talk about is bad news?  More political haggling, more obstruction, more nastiness…. Rumors, fears, tension…. Why are you cast down, O my soul?  Well, honestly, there seem to be plenty of reasons! David felt that way too.  He remembered gladder times, but right now, in this space, his diet consists of bitterness and tears and oppression and persecution.  Yikes! Have you ever complained to God?  I have. Lots of times.  And in the end, although my circumstances may not have changed, I had to agree with D

What is it like to know someone?  I mean, really know someone.  And when you know them, to love them, warts and all…?   Do you have someone like that in your life? And…what is it like to be known…and loved?  Do we really even know ourselves? There are things in our innermost selves that we don’t like to look at.  We’ve hidden those things there, sometimes so deeply that we don’t even know they are there. The good news is that the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts, and He is intimately acquainted with all the deep beliefs and longings hidden in our hearts.  He is in the business of redeeming and transforming our hearts on a daily basis.  He partners with us to “put off” the old self, and “put on” the new self in Christ.  (Eph 4:22-24) Praise His name! In our current state of solitude, you may hear things in your thoughts and feelings that surprise you, bother you, even convict you.  A forced state of “captivity” can really get to us!  If you hear yourself bein