Hide or Seek

Today's verse is:

“Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. (Jeremiah 33:2-3 ESV)

We live in a culture where things are too easily obtained. We don't have to look very far or very hard to find ways to get things that we didn't work hard for. Most of the time it's because we are in a culture of "I need it now". Gone are the days of saving up & working hard to buy something then realizing after we have worked hard enough & saved enough we realize we didn't really need it anyway.

We are an instant gratification culture & I think that bleeds over to our walk with God. We think that just because we pray every once in awhile & open our bible after a convicting message that our prayers should always be answered. That our lives should be easy going & that we should be able to live a care free life. I mean come on, I'm saved right. Why shouldn't my life have all those things.

Look at the second part of that verse,

"Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known."

Hearing Gods voice doesn't come with an occasional prayer or reading a verse every once in awhile. Can God speak whenever he wants? Of course he's God but it takes a persistent prayer life, taking time to be still and listen & digging into the word daily to draw near to God. We can have an easy going life when we can refer to scriptures that say things like:

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:34 ESV)

Or

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV)

& countless more. When you know the word you can pull from them to give you to comfort and a knowledge that everything will be ok. Many people have "drive-through Christianity" where you just get what you want and move on until your hungry again and the process repeats. Or people who call the bible "the owners manual". I know people have their reasons for that phrase but the only reason I don't like referring to the bible as an "owners manual" is that I don't sit down every night & pull out my Kitchen Aide Mixer manual and have an enjoyable read and really learn my mixer. I only pull it out when there is something wrong that I have tried to fix on my own & couldn't so I had to refer to my owners manual.

The bible shouldn't be a supplement to our life, it should be the foundation. The same with prayer & quiet time. We need to start our day with God putting all our trust in him & know that he can work all things for good for those who love him & are called. We also need to be still. Be still & know that he is God. Be still & listen. Sometimes we focus to much on asking for stuff, we forget to listen to God telling us we don't really need those things to be happy.

I pray that we seek God daily & are praying without ceasing. I believe that is the only way we will be able to learn about the great and hidden things that we have not known that God is trying to tell us.

Grace & Peace
Ben