Summon Your Might, O God
by Pastor Timothy Burdick
"Display Your power, O God, as You have in the past" (Psalm 68:28)
We tend to "evaluate" God's performance by the way He has moved in the past. Too many times we like formulas more than faith. I would suggest that for us as mere people, trying to evaluate a Holy God is absurd. Furthermore, by attempting to do this, many people become mixed up with sensationalism. Let me explain:
People often have their focus on the sensational, and see the "power" of God only in the spectacular miracles of Jesus or events like buildings being shaken in the Book of Acts. The tragedy is: We may have set our sights on the wrong priorities and do not see God's hand in our everyday lives. Now, please don't misunderstand me, I am not ruling out God working in any way that He chooses, but the problem is that too many times we put him into a box and only see His power in ways that are "showy." We subtly insist that because He worked one way previously, that is the way He must always work. We tend to miss God's power expressed in His still small voice, and many times God DOES speak to us in our hearts through quietness.
God may be speaking to us in a situation, but we aren't listening. Rather than hearing what He says in a whisper, our eyes are fixed on what may be called “spiritual theatrics.” Whatever we might be going through today, God pleads with us all to listen to His voice closely and carefully. However He might manifest Himself, He longs for us to be more aware of His power and majesty, and we will, as we are shaped into His image. But we can only understand Him accurately when what we hear in our hearts agrees with His Word, the Bible.
A lot of people get into trouble because they just listen to an inner voice that they assume is from God, but in reality, that sensation might be from the pizza they ate the night before, or their own desires. Listening to an inner voice without checking it out by searching the Scriptures can be very dangerous as it can lead us to make foolish, even harmful decisions. Without finding out what God's Word has to say on a certain issue, it is easy to rationalize and go off on our own. It is like trying to get to know someone without learning about their likes or dislikes first, and God has revealed Himself in the Bible. However He chooses to speak, we must search the Scriptures in order to fine tune our ears to hear effectively. We must learn to draw on His power for each new day by listening to the still small voice that He so often uses. Yes God can work in dramatic ways, but instead of looking only to the God of special effects, we need to look to the God of the Bible, waiting upon Him to see how He will speak in each circumstance.
Visit Pastor Timothy at New Vision Ministries website www.mynvm.org
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