listening matters not, unless He is speaking...

oswald chambers writings share the answers to his questions.  God seems to show up behind all of this man's writings.  would that we all be in a place to hear like that, see like that, think like that.  but most of the time we struggle and learn and grow towards those ends without the sense of wisdom and truth and beauty being revelatory.  by that i mean, we can't really know anything unless God reveals it.  i know it sounds like freshman philosophy, but follow me for a second.  unless there is space, content, and the ability to interpret that in some way, then everything is out of our grasp.

we cannot hope to exist without a body, a place, a time to live...this is the space that the God Omnipotent has provided

we cannot possess or handle anything, if it is not there...in the beginning He created everything that would be anything...that is the content that He has provided for us

we cannot see, smell, taste, touch, see, or hear anything without the hardware (eyes, ears, etc.) and software (ie. thoughts, intuition, instinct, etc) that He has crafted in us, then the space and content are useless...yet He gave us a way to know Him and His creation in the space that He made with the tools that He gave us to know Him.  pretty awesome, right?!

chambers has a line in the passage above?  "...but what avail is my seeking, if You reveal not Yourself?"  truly, this is a place where i've found myself, and i know many others have been here as well, that there is real stuff and then God stuff, and for the most part we separate the two, leaving the God stuff on the shelf way in the back.  we don't operate on a daily, hourly, minutely way that recognizes the space, content, and interpretation of all things is a gift from our Maker.

could we add this as a hum underneath all that we do during lent and beyond?  could we take, not just every thought captive, but every space, time, interpretation, etc?  could we ascribe to the Maker of Everything glory and thanks for what he has done?  then all things become miraculous and meaningful.  all things point to Him.  all things hold together in Him (colossians 1).  then we begin the hard thing of asking Him to lead and show and bless, while we humbly accept that gifts that we could not hope to buy, or build, or steal.

may the Lord bless you and keep you in this day
may He be kind and gracious to you
may He make His Face to shine upon you, revealing His beauty
"and when they looked upon Him, they were made radiant"