Musings of Wind and Rustling Leaves

This morning I was led in prayer to John 3: 1-8

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.^[a]”

⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[b] gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[c] must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[d]

Nicodemus was a man who came to see Jesus in the cover of darkness. He was compelled by questions. Questions that stirred inside of him into a whirling storm of belief, doubt, and wonder. His heart longed to know who Jesus was. Who was this man that healed the sick, fed thousands, spoke boldly in the temple, and caused such sickening hatred among the Pharisees? Yet, even they knew there was something special about him.

Sometimes I will sit and look out my bedroom window as I still myself to hear from God. As I gaze at the tree outside, I watch as the leaves bounce up and down in the breeze and I often think, "That is how God's Spirit moves." I don't see the breeze coming. I don't see where it ends. I only see the bobbing of leaves and hear the rustling of it's movement as it passes by.

Such is God's Spirit. It is unpredictable. We can't see it, but we can hear it and see the rippling effect as it passes by. Jesus says, "you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. "Did you get that? "you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going." In other words, I cannot know all the answers and see the full picture before I respond. 

It's in allowing to be moved that we can say, "Yes, did you see how God moved!" Sometimes God's voice is a nudge, "Go there. Talk to that person". Sometimes it's a stronger wind, and sometimes it's a full forced tornado. 

The questions is: Are you willing to be pliable to God's nudge? Do you hear him nudging you...do you hear the wind blowing? Are you willing to accept that "you cannot" know all the "whys" or "hows" and respond to His Spirit?

A morning chat with a neighbor

This morning as I was sitting in God's presence and wondering what I would write about, I felt inspired to talk with other believers about how they hear God's voice. I thought of my neighbors downstairs, a renowned theologian and his wife. Since Gordon has written many books about theology, I thought he would be the perfect one to ask. I was eager to hear what he would say.

I prayed, "Lord, do you want me to talk to my neighbor?" and I heard "Yes". As soon as I heard this, all kinds of excuses began to fill my mind, including a desire to simply be lazy, but I could not stop thinking about following this prompting no matter how much I tried. I asked God, again, whether I should go downstairs, and when I heard "Yes" a second time, I got up, descending the stairs, and knocked on my neighbors' door. To my surprise, he was not home, but his wife Maudine was home so, after a moment of indecision, I asked if she had a few minutes to chat. (You might notice that I did not actually ask God if I should speak with Gordon, but with my "neighbor". )

To give a little background, Maudine is a quiet, quick-witted woman, who has deep and insightful perspectives on scripture. Although her husband, Gordon, is the author of many books on theology, she is his trusted "editor" helping him to refine his writing.

When I asked her how she hears God's voice, she shared that she hears God through His Word. She and her husband had just completed reading the bible from cover to cover out-loud. Each day, they would take turns reading the daily scriptures and discussing what they had read.

Maudine also shared how she had once felt God's leading in writing something, but had second guessed herself. As she spoke about her manuscript I immediately saw the value in what she has written about and encouraged her in her writing, requesting to read her manuscript and meet with her again to talk about it. Maudine replied, "You are very encouraging. I'm so glad you came to chat. God must have prompted you to come."

God is my shepherd...

This morning I'm meditating on a new song that was introduced to our group on Sunday, "The House of God, Forever" by Jon Foreman. Have a listen while you're reading the lyrics.

How about closing your eyes and making the words of the Psalm your own? The words are actually quite radical. Can you believe that God is your shepherd? Yes, you! Allow yourself to believe the words and you might find your fears, sorrows, and loneliness comforted and healed by the love of our heavenly Father.

God is my shepherd

I won't be wanting

I won't be wanting

He makes me rest

In fields of green

With quiet streams

Even though I walk

Through the valley

Of death and dying

I will not fear

'Cause you are with me

You are with me

Your shepherd staff

Comforts me

You are my feast

In the presence of enemy

Surely goodness

Follow me

Follow me

In the house of God, forever

Don't You Know I've Always Loved You

Yesterday as I was sitting and waiting to hear from God, I asked, "Lord, what do you want to tell me today?" This is what came to mind, "Liz, I love you-and have loved you before the beginning of time." As I wrote down those words, a vague feeling came over me that those were lyrics from a song. I didn't know the name of the song, the group who sang it, or any of the lyrics but opened up my computer and typed, "I love you before there was time" into the search engine box. Within a few moments I found the song: "I've Always Loved You" by Third Day.

This is a song that my husband and I used in a video we showed at our wedding reception. I'm sure you've seen similar videos with images of the bride and groom growing up and then beginning their lives together. Well, that's exactly how this song was used. At the time, my brother chose the song, and I'm not sure I even knew who sang it then.

After listening to the song, I immediately downloaded it and have listened to the song maybe 15 times in the last day. The lyrics have ministered to me, even in silents moments when the song was not playing, like a quiet whisper in my ear:

"Don't you know I've always loved you, even before there was time."

Meditating on those words...really listening...has been a healing balm to my spirit. Images from my childhood scroll in time to the music, as if I am seeing my entire life played to a soundtrack.

Don't you know I've always loved you, even before there was time."

Clearly God intended for me to hear this song. I've needed to hear, ached to hear, these very words.

Here is the link, if you'd like to listen to the song.