I heard from God

When I was a freshman I had Mrs. Muth as my English teacher.  One day we walked into class in 100B (yep, the same room I teach in now!), and she announced that we were going to have a large pop quiz.  As you can guess, we were startled!  She passed out the quiz and we all began diligently working.  I set my determination to get the solid grade I was used to getting.  The quiz was lengthy and had numerous essay and short answer questions.  In the midst of my furious writing, I noticed something disturbing: people around me were beginning to get up and turn in the quiz!

I was floored!  How could they have finished already?  I wasn’t even halfway done!  I dug in my heels and continued to write until I got to the last question.  In the directions it said, “Good job.  You’ve been listening to my advice to read all the directions before starting a quiz or test.  Leave this quiz blank and turn it in.”  Duuuuhhh.

Oddly enough, don’t we feel this way when it comes to God too?  We feel like we’re working hard to make this relationship work, but it’s so confusing.  Yet, all the people that talk about it in class, chapel, youth group, or church seem to have it figured out.  They talk so confidently about hearing God, having Bible verses jump out at them, or seeing what God is doing in their life.  It’s like being in my quiz story.  Everyone around you seems to know something that you don’t.

Well, here’s the good news: unlike my story, they don’t know either.  Often they use terms and rhetoric to talk like they understand it all, but relating to God is weird.  I think we all just need to get honest about it.  Once we acknowledge that, we can truly begin to settle into this thing called a relationship with God. 

I can talk confidently about my relationship with my wife because we have a long history of working through life together.  Just like this, you too can find a steady connection with the Lord as you learn to relate to Him in a way that is specific to you and your personality, but it takes time and honesty.  I guess I just want us to give up the illusion that it’s really easy to figure out.  It’s not.  So, let’s start from reality and embrace the mystery.