Journeys… you hear about them all the time.
You hear it said, “a journey of a thousand miles starts with just a step”, you hear it said, “your journey will take you places”, BUT… I haven’t seen any good quotes about stopping along that long journey to have a cup of coffee; wet a line; talk to the locals; or wonder about the local legends swirling around the local mountain top;
or just taking a moment to think to yourself, “I need to take this all in, what’s going on with me, I need to slow down and make an assessment of where I am.”
What would that quote look like?
“He who stops and drinks coffee on his journey, early in the day… will be stopping… AGAIN, later in the afternoon… to relieve himself in another fashion.”
Or something like that.
My current coffee conundrum has me studying Hebrews 5:9… “and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”
The word “obey” being the crux of the thought.
If I know Gods commands, like, “thou shalt not murder” and I don’t murder anybody… did I “hear” Him??
What about a normal day, and I hear that still small voice in my head say, “Don’t retaliate.” And I don’t retaliate… did I “hear” Him??
Did I “obey” Him??
In our American culture, when we hear the word “obey” we immediately get our hackles up!!
I even had a friend of mind say, “Don’t be putting “OBEY” in the wedding ceremony,” as I prepared to officiate her wedding.
But what if, like on that long journey that just goes on and on, the same thing happened with the word “obey”?
What if no one ever stopped to ask a local what that word means?
The resource… Strong’s Concordance… in both Greek and Hebrew… has the original language definition for the word “obey” as… “to listen” “to attend to” “to hearken” “I listen” i.e. really listening to the one giving the charge [order] or [command]
“It suggest attentive listening, i.e. fully compliant [responsive]” ~ Strong’s Concordance
On my life journey to discover success, manliness, healthy mental health, and a deeper relationship with my Lord, I have had to pull the car over and turn the radio down.
“Why?”
I think I heard something.
“What?”
Mountains.
“Like the Alps, or Rockies?”
No… individual mountains. Like Mt Fuji, Mt Kilimanjaro… or Denali.
Today, as I was studying, I heard, “Climb Mt Niitaka!” Which, if you remember your history, was the order received by the Japanese admiral Nagumo, indicating to him to open the sealed classified documents he carried, they would inform him that the attack on Pearl Harbor… was… a go.
God’s Word is full of individual mountains. And experiences on, and around individual mountains.
And with each experience the scenario was always the same… God had a message to give.
The most vivid for me is Jesus, and His sermon on… the what? On “the mount”.
So let’s take a sip of coffee… and stop and think here a minute…
Individual mountains, messages, seeing versus hearing…
What are we looking for?
Clarification.
“Obey” doesn’t mean “Do what I say!” It means “to listen to attentively.”
“Mt Niitaka” isn’t found in Japan. It’s found in Taiwan. It’s the highest mountain in the western Pacific. It’s big.
And as of this writing, due to my recent workouts, my legs feel like I’m 3/4’s the way up my individual mountain journey.
Must be getting close to the top.
In the words of Mr Wooderson…
“Alright alright alright”
But knowing you can hear God… and actually, making sure you do hear Him… are two completely different things.
I hear Him when I look up into the night sky, and see Orion rising, I know it’s huntin’ season.
When I see a rainbow, I hear Him saying, “I’ll never flood the world again.”
And when I hear Him say, “Put to death the misdeeds of the body”, I hear “take no prisoners concerning your personal sins and proclivities.” [Might have to use that over at The Emerging Man]
So I know… “I’m ABLE to hear Him” and “I WANT to hear Him” “But… CAN I hear Him?”
Especially when it comes to the life transformation I’m trying to implement… I would love to be attentive and compliant to His commands and instructions.
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