Nov 18 - Psalm 17:7a

Show me your unfailing love

in wonderful ways.

Psalm 17:7a

Yesterday we talked about how to literally HEAR God. It's a topic we dare not let go too quickly. 

Yesterday we said the secret was listening. And listening. And listening. 

It takes, honestly, lots of scripture reading so that, first, you learn to hear God's general voice. Reading scripture helps you know what he values, love what he loves, and see how he consistently and generously works. 

Then it takes lots of prayer ... and not just talking to him, but listening and listening as you just sit with him in silence and solitude. 

The ancient "Desert Fathers" -- early Christian monastics -- fled to the desert to, first, silence the world. Then they sat alone -- often for years -- to silence their own desires.

We don't have to literally flee to the desert to hear God, but we'd do well to recognize that there are two powerful noises that we must silence if we truly wish to hear from God -- the world's noise (which nowadays is incessant, and to which I must confess that I'm addicted) and then our own desires. 

I have a friend right now who's counseling everyone she knows to spend just five minutes a day in silence. Even in her tight-knit small group, basically no one can do it. We're addicted to noise. We're driven to doing. 

Today's verses don't tell us how, but they do tell us of the fruits. 

·       The more quiet time you spend with God, the more you will know that you are "8 the apple of [His] eye" and therefore, you are "8 guard[ed]."

·       The more time spent in solitude with God, the more you feel the protecting "9 shadow of [His] wings," 

·       The more you escape from the harsh realities of this world and discover the more real and more permanent spiritual world around you, the more you will feel truly "9 protect[ed from the] enemies who surround [you]."

If you ever want to know God's "7 unfailing love in wonderful ways," don't cry, "7 show me," just learn to sit there and sit there and sit there. Looking, listening, reading God’s Word, asking, seeking, knocking, he will delight to show you. 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who's running so fast

that he often runs right past

God's simple presence

your unfailing love in wonderful ways," God is 

You save with your strength those who seek refuge from their enemies.8Guard me as the apple of your eye. Hide me in the shadow of your wings.9 Protect me from wicked people who attack me, from murderous enemies who surround me.