In-Place and On-Time

Key West, Florida is well-known for its incredible sunsets, but there's a price to pay: you must be there. There is also a prerequisite for hearing God's voice: you must be listening.  With the tremendous amount of noise today, God's voice is often drowned out. I'm very grateful to my parents for helping me hear God's voice [as a child-teenager] by putting me in places where I could better hear Him speaking.  God was not speaking more or less in those places or at those times, but the environment was better suited to hear Him - less noise and distractions - a better listening place.  This also instilled in me the need for personal quiet times and places to enjoy the sweetness of His Presence.  I propose this is a great neglect of many Christians today: in our own wisdom, WE decide when and where we will hear God; quite simply, we listen on our own terms.  The psalmist writes, "As the deer pants [longingly] for the water brooks, so my soul pants [longingly] for You, O God. My soul (my life, my inner self) thirsts for God, for the living God. When will I come and see the face of God?" (Psalm 42:1-2).  Why today are there so few panters - those eager, even desperate, to hear God speaking?  Jesus said, "the sheep follow Him because they know His voice and recognize His call." (John 10:4). Are you intentionally putting yourself in places and times to nurture listening to The Father?  Let me encourage you to be deliberate in being in-place and on-time to hear God speaking; He has so much to say!