Update on hearing God’s voice

HI y’all I wanted to give you guys an update on hearing the voice of God. Lately I have been so enamored by my squad mates ability to seek the voice of the Lord and hear it in order to receive direction for simple everyday decisions. This is so intriguing to me as I have said in previous blogs and I am working to strengthen this spiritual muscle. Recently one of these team mates that hears the Lord so clearly gave me some good encouragement and reminded me that everyone hears from the Lord in different ways and that I should not be ashamed of how He communicates to me but rather lean into the areas in my life that He does use to speak to me and be grateful for them. Although that seems like a simple or maybe even obvious statement it was a good reminder for me that God has made us all unique and thus we have different spiritual giftings. I feel as though the Lord most often communicates to me via reading the Bible and so I wanted to share something He has recently expressed to me in my readings.

In 2 Kings chapter 4 we read the story of Elisha a great prophet and man of God who guides a Shunammite woman through several difficult experiences. First he helps to facilitate a miracle from the Lord in that he advises her how to receive oil in abundance from only one jar to then sell , pay off a debt and buy the freedom of her sons. Later on in the chapter one of the sons falls ill and dies and Elisha raises him from the dead. There is so much to this story and many lessons to take away from it but this was only the foundation of the story that God was laying in order to speak to me. If we fast forward to 2 Kings chapter 8 this is what God used to speak to me and provide me a message of comfort, His divinity and His perfect timing.

In Chapter 8 Elisha tells this same woman to flee her home land as a famine is about to take place. So the woman did according to what Elisha had asked her to do and took her family and went and lived with the Philistines for 7 years awaiting the end of the famine. So we fast forward 7 years to the end of the famine and the woman has returned back to her homeland in hopes of having her possessions restored to her. (This is where things get really good). A servant of Elisha is talking to the king of his land and the king is asking Elisha’s servant to give an account of the miracles that Elisha had performed in his life time. In verse 5 we get a glimpse of the absolutely perfect timing of God and how only He can orchestrate all of the blessings that we encounter in life. “And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land”. So to put this story all together, Elisha tells a woman to leave for 7 years for her own good and it just so happens that she shows up 7 YEARS LATER at exactly the moment his servant is talking to the king about the miracle that Elisha had performed for her years ago in raising her son from the dead. Are you kidding me?!? Can you imagine the look of shock that Elisha’s servant must have had on his face when this woman walked into the kings presence? Imagine not seeing or hearing from your friend for 7 years and as you are telling one of your favorite stories about them they randomly appear. This is mind blowing to me, but it doesn’t stop there. God establishes His perfect timing first but then He also shows just how faithful He is to provide for those who abide in Him. The woman is told by the king that not only will she be restored her lands and her home but also that she will be given the equivalent of all the crops she would have grown in those 7 years had she stayed in her homeland. This was such a good reminder for me that God is working even when we do not see it, and that His plan and timing for our lives is far greater than we could ever imagine. We may be facing difficult circumstances such as losing a job, a loved one or a home **cough cough** Tim/Steph but God is working them for our good, some way some how. When we are loyal to HIs word and seeking out HIs will for our lives we can be certain that He is going to work the situation out for us at just the time we need Him most and provide for us more than we could ever imagine. God is so good and I am very grateful He has been revealing Himself to me through His word. It is time for a perspective change in my relationship with God, one of giving thanks rather than comparing myself to others.