When He speaks, hear and heed
When He’s quiet, chew what you heard
When He’s close, embrace the warmth
When He lifts, rest, content with truth
When He leads, fall in line
Or else God won’t force His way
He will wait for repentance
He will wait for our return
He will wait until we are ready
To heed what we heard
To follow where we’re led
To do what we’re told:
God will wait for us.

It’s just so easy to blame someone else for what’s not working in our lives. Whereas the fear of God has made some of us appear wise, many people are not afraid to blame God when things are not working as expected. God must be at fault, after all He owns the world. He controls all creation. He knows better. He should do better. As if God exists for us instead of us for Him.

No matter what we do, no matter what we think, still God is patient with us. More patient that we can ever imagine or attribute to Him. He understands where we are per time and He is a gentle Shepard. He doesn’t drive us like a herd of goats. He doesn’t bark down orders and expect us to jump in line like they do in the military. He understands every phase of our lives because He made us and He leads us accordingly. He doesn’t expect more than we are able. Neither does He expect less though He makes no fuss when we do. He didn’t kill Esau when He offered less. Like the Father, He uses every means available, to call our attention to something that needs to be addressed in our walk with Him. When we fail to heed, we walk right into sin like Esau did.

If we ask, He will help us deal with it. If we don’t, he will wait until we realize our need for His help and reach out to Him. He is our ever present help. And He doesn’t wait for the need to arise to show up on our behalf. God is always there with us, whether we are aware of His presence or not.

If you are not hearing from Him, maybe you need to do a check: when was the last time I heard? What did He say? Have I done what was asked? Did I give it my best? Until we are ready to obey, we are not ready to follow and it is hard to follow someone you don’t trust. Trust is an essential ingredient for obedience. Willingness is indispensable if we seek to draw close to God. Readiness to obey keeps stagnation away. Prompt obedience keeps our ears in tune, our hearts receptive, our strength increasing and our feet moving no matter the challenges along the way, no matter the pace. So long as we are ready, God is always ready. And until we are ready, God awaits ….

(To be continued)

Glory!