When God Speaks

When God Speaks

Many people who believe in God believe they have never heard God speak. That might be true. It might also be that they did not recognize  it when God spoke. 

There is one time in my life when I am sure the voice I heard was clearly that of God. I was working at a job for the summer between second and third year of Bible College in a factory that made items out of wood. A coworker, and I were putting wooden mattress frames through a nailing machine when he got a sliver. I helped him get it out and at that point, I heard a voice say something to the effect of, "You did this. You can do more if you go into medicine."

That was really out of the blue for me. I had never considered medicine as a career. There were one or two adults in my life who recognized some intelligence and had suggested that, but I had never followed up on it. It turned out to be somewhat of a struggle to get into medical school, but I finally did. Similarly, when I was growing older, and considering when I should retire from a career as a physician, I was looking for some indication as to when I should do so. At some level, I thought that if God had called me into this, God should let me know when I could leave it.

In discussing my thoughts on this with a wise pastor Uncle, he made the point that it may not have been the career that God had directed me towards. It may have been a larger pattern of God testing my willingness to obey.

This brings me to another situation in the midst of my career. My wife and I were considering a move from one province to another for what most would consider good reasons. I had gone so far as to arrange five interviews in that regard. When I had completed those, it was still not clear to my wife and myself, which one of the possibilities should be pursued. I sometimes believe that a model followed at times in the Bible, namely, drawing lots, can be a good way to go. We did that and got one answer. The answer we got was not what we expected, not that there was anything negative about it. We had prayed and we did so again and drew lots a second time. Same answer. We believed God had provided the answer, though not in as a direct manner is in my previous example, and 20 years later, we have no reason to think otherwise. 

Telling a Faith Story II

Telling Our [Personal] Stories

We read often in the Psalms about declaring the works of God to the people, in the congregation, even to the nations. My wife likes to chide me for not doing this myself when I comment on these passages and what they suggest we do. Indeed, I have blogged about telling our stories too. Now, we might think these passages refer to great events of national and international import. I submit it pertains for most of us to what happens in our everyday life. Take yesterday, for me, for example.

After being in hospital twice in the past year with bowel obstruction I was concerned when I woke up with a crampy abdomen. I went to a morning meeting I had committed to, had lunch and went to make good on a scheduled blood donation early in the afternoon. The cramps weren’t going away.

Surprising how we so often forget to bring thee seemingly everyday issues to our Lord in prayer. Sometimes it might just be because we are too busy ‘doing.’ Well, I remembered to do pray, but I also did two things to help myself – put a heating pad on my tummy and took time out – which I don’t do often - to lie down for a nap. An hour later I woke up and all appeared to be back to normal. Answer to prayer? Act of God? I believe so. So, with a better frame of mind and body, I kept an afternoon meeting still on my schedule. As I say on my e-mail ‘signature’: “Retired but busy.’

Praise the Lord!