Just want to share with you what I was sharing with 1 sister about hearing the Voice of God regarding His will for our lives.
We were talking about hearing His voice regarding His will and the frustration of the 'silent period' where He seems to say nothing anymore. I believed that all of us have such experience.
We heard God or see Him directing us in a certain direction, which at that point of time seems to indicate that is the Will of Him for us. Than, quite suddenly or gradually, He seems to stop 'talking' to us or directing us. And we start to wonder if we have heard Him correctly or maybe it is time for us to change course etc.
As we chatted, we talked about the lessons from the life of Abraham, the father of Faith. We all know that Father spoke to him about leaving his home country to another city that Father is the builder and also the promise of a son where his descandants will be numerous as the sand of the seashore or the stars of heaven. However, many of us seems to have the impression (through the teaching of some teachers or our wrong understanding) that Father speaks to Abraham continuously regarding His Will (the promised city and the son).
Yet a careful examination of the bible reveal the opposite. For the promise of a son, between the first time that Father spoke to Abraham and the 2nd time of assuring him of the promise, there is a space of about 10yrs. And between the 2nd assurance to the actual birth of Isaac, at least 1 more year had passed. In between the 'silent period' of Father, all Abraham had is to see the stars in Heaven and the sand in the desert as his assurance of the promise.
And Abraham is like us. There came a point that he begin to doubt and thus agreed with his wife, Sarah, on how to 'help' God fulfil this promise. We know the rest of the story. Ismael was born.
Many of us are like Abraham at various point of our lives. We receive a promise or revelation or direction about our lives. We are excited. And He had also promise that if we look to the 'stars' and the 'stand', it will remain us of His promise or will. Than came the 'silent period'. For some of us, it has been a month or a year or even 10 years or 20 since He has last spoken that promise to us. And what we did do? We started to try to help God to fulfil His promise. We start to look around us to see what we can do to fulfil that promise or should we change course.
And what happen next is that the 'Ismael' of our life (a ministry or career that seems to be what God has promise) is born and we thought that this is what Father has plan for us. Yes, Ismael is a boy (God promise Abraham that he will have a son). And yes, Ismael grows up healthy and definitely taking on the characteristic and probably even the image of Abraham. And similarly, our so-called ministry (when actually it is a 'Ismael'
seems to begin to grow and taking on the characteristic and even the image that we want it to have. Yet that is still not His will because it is not the 'Isaac' that He promise.We see that God did not stop Abraham from conceiving a son thru Haggai and we did not see God stopping the birth of Ismael. Why? Because He respect our will. If we choose to fulfil His will with our ways, He will actually allow it to happen. But it is still not His will. And it would seems that He also blesses the 'Ismael' of our lives.
However, Father's plan for Abraham will not be deter by the birth of Ismael. We see that eventually, the promised son, Isaac, was born according to His way. After Isaac was born, it came to a point where Sarah demanded that Ismael should be sent away. What was Abraham's reaction? He was totally distressed although he could see young Isaac, probably only less than 10 yrs old, growing up. What did God tell Abraham? He told Abraham to listen to what Sarah is speaking. In other words, just let Ismael go even if Abraham thinks that he had spent so many years trying to nuture this boy to be the 'will of God' and not only that, to see that there seemingly to have bore some results because Ismael is really growing into a fine young man.
There are a few lessons here for all of us. First, do not be mistaken that Father speaks to us (regarding His Will) all the time or the frequency that we expect. Don't get me wrong. I am NOT saying that He will not speak. But rather, that He chose the frequency to talk to us while we seek Him. He is God and we are not. And when He seems to be silent, it does not change what He had spoken earlier. And frankly, this is when we learn or rather He teaches us to live by faith. Living by faith is keep doing or going in the direction that He has last show us until He speaks again. If He is to speak to us very frequently or daily as some of us expect Him to do it, than there is no need to live by faith.
Second, do not TRY to fulfil His will in our lives with our own method or ways or plan. In doing that, the 'Ismael' of our live will be birthed. And it will caused us much heartache eventually simply because it is not His Will. We can say that the problem in Middle East today is because of the birth of Ismael. Even if our 'Ismael' may not cause the 'scale' of problem' as we see in Middle East, there will still be repercussion in His Kingdom. I wonder how many ministries, or careers today are actually the 'Ismael' of our lives and not the 'Isaac'.
Third, God will actually allows the 'Ismael' of our lives to grow and even blossom. But there will come a time when He will tell us to let it go because of the arrival of 'Isaac' Instead of getting distress like Abraham, we need to learn to just let our 'Ismael' go. What are the "Ismael' of our lives? It could be a successful career which Father wants us to let go so that a new and young career (which He destined and just like Isaac) can 'grow' without the constant distraction or harassement from the 'Ismael' (like we see in the bible). It could be a growing ministry and yet in Father's eye, it is an 'Ismael'. It could be a relationship that we are in (talking to those who are not married) even though our potential life-partner seems so spiritual and godly, but still an 'Ismael' in His eye. It could even be a growing and successful church that we are pastoring, but yet a 'Ismael'. Whatever forms our 'Ismael' come in, there will come a time that Father will tell us to let it go and we need to do that so that the 'Isaac' in our lives can grow and developed according to His ways.
I believe that if we learn that Father speaks but not based on the frequency that we want, and we learn to hold on to what He had last spoken during the 'silent period', not only we are learning to live by faith but it will save us from the heartache of 'Ismael'
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