And the Word of the Lord Came...

I was reading in the gospel of Luke the other morning, skipping along through the text. A few words especially caught my eye, but in my endeavour to read more than a few lines, you know, at least read a whole chapter, I just kept on going, thinking I’ll go back and look at that later. Then I said to myself, what am I doing? Isn’t this the whole point? If a few words jump out at me, aren’t I supposed to park there for a few minutes and really think about what I’m reading?

So I stop and go back to those words which were: “the word of the Lord came to John… and he went” (Luke 3:2, 3a) God had a specific purpose and plan for John (the Baptist), a very special purpose – he was to prepare the way of the Lord. How was John to know what to do next? Where was he to go? What was he supposed to do? When was he supposed to do it? The answer is right here in the text “the word of Lord came to John”. I wonder what the exact words were that John heard (that's just me being curious, I’m sure it’s a girl thing) but, in any event John knew the voice of the Lord and he obeyed the word that he heard.

Isn't it amazing and wonderful that God speaks to his people? WOW! And the fact that God has created us with the ability to understand what He says!! Again, it’s amazing! So often we just read over verses and chapters as if they were ordinary, in a ‘nothing remarkable there’ kind of way, as if we had just read “John got up at 6:30 and had breakfast” [Of course in John the Baptist’s case it would have been remarkable because he ate locusts and honey for breakfast! – sorry I digress]. No, there is something extraordinary here. The verse says “the word of the Lord came to John”. God spoke to John and told him what he was to do. And John understood God’s voice and did what He said to do.

Is it any different for us? Is God a respecter of persons? Friends, God has a special purpose and plan for your lives too, and for mine. He is speaking to you too, and to me. He speaks in many different ways – through scripture, another brother or sister, the preaching of His word, directly to us with His “still small voice”, an inner prompting, etc.

Life in Christ should not be boring. If it is, I’m sure it’s because we are not listening. Are we brave enough to say “Speak Lord, your servant is listening?” Let’s discover what He is saying. Things could get really exciting!