“Daughter, you need to stay away.”

“Be patient, wait on my timing.”

“I want you to learn, serve, and grow, beloved.”

The Lord kept whispering these truths to my heart over and over again as the months passed by. The sad part is, I didn’t listen. I said and thought I was seeking His guidance regarding a guy, but I wasn’t obeying Him. I thought I was giving God enough of my time and attention, but I was living for myself, consumed by pride and jealousy. Instead of admitting I had a heart problem, I pretended everything was perfect.  

Listening is one of the hardest disciplines as human beings. We would much rather talk and think about our own ideas than we would sit still and focus on another’s. We say we want to listen to God and do what He tells us to do, but that’s a lot easier said than done. Specifically last year, I was seeking God’s guidance about a guy. He clearly told me to stay away several times, in several ways. Even though I said I wanted to listen, I didn’t like how his ideas seemed to go against my own. His answer was a resounding and continual “Wait.” It wasn’t time for me to pursue this yet. God already had the whole situation worked out (as He usually does), but I acted in fear, hoping I could control the situation and manipulate it in my favor. Friends, let me tell you, living in daily fear will quickly scare away all your peace, patience, and joy in the Lord, leaving you confused, frustrated, and defeated.

Sometimes we feel like we can’t hear God. Sometimes He feels distant. We want to hear Him speak to our heart in the amazing, beautiful, and intimate way only He can. We want to bask in His love-light. But reality is, when we are caught up in US—our pursuits and fame—it is almost impossible to hear Him speaking. Why? Not because He’s forgotten us or stopped loving us. It is because we have put this gigantic mountain of idolatry, rejection, and complacency between His words and our ears.

We lose sight of eternity, we lose sight of our beautiful Savior on His throne, we lose sight of the victory we have in Him and begin to settle for the world’s words. When we do begin to be swayed by what the world and other’s think, it gets even more difficult. We want our outer shell to appear a Christ-follower yet our heart follows the world. This not only defiles your intimacy with Christ personally, but also leaves you trying to maintain two reputations (neither of which are fully who you are).

Instead of listening to who God DECLARES us to be in Him, we end up being an insecure, immature, discouraging fools. That is not what we are called to be! We are called to be children of the day, full of joy and peace because we KNOW what Jesus has done for us. We are satisfied because He is enough.

We want to hear Him speak because His words are life and the world is filth. We want to seek Him first. After all, He is our first love.

I will listen to what God will say;
surely the Lord will declare peace
to His people, His godly ones,
and not let them go back to foolish ways. Psalm 85:8