“What do you need to hear?” This is the question I ask myself at the start of every single blog entry. You need to hear from God, but what will specifically meet your need, I don’t have a clue. I start by asking God to direct me, because He knows exactly your need. He longs to speak to you. He speaks through His Word, which lines up with His character and nature. I will give you a heads up that when He speaks, it will surprise you.
I love to listen to Alistair Begg on the Truth For Life website. I am going to suggest that you listen to a message from the broadcast on August 19th from a series called “Come See a Man” regarding the Samaritan woman. (See link below.) This woman thought she was providing something that Jesus needed, not at all realizing that she needed what Jesus was providing. The way Alistair shared this story caught me off guard, and I stopped what I was doing at the moment. I had the direct thought that “I am the Samaritan woman.” The particulars of her story are different than mine, but she represents essential elements we women share. I think I need to further ponder the real ramifications of this.
I remember when I looked up the word “prodigal” in the dictionary and the story turned on me. It means “wastefully extravagant.” Running away was a symptom of this heart condition. I am the prodigal daughter. Now, when I feel like running away, I try to think about where I am being wastefully extravagant and not properly valuing what God has put in my life. I don’t think I even want to tell you how often the thought of running away crosses my mind, but at least God has used this story to show me the outcome of such foolish thinking. Starving… poor…alone…in a pig pen… at the end of myself.
Wouldn’t it be nice to skip all that suffering and loss? For sure! That prodigal story is for me and about me.
I am realizing that I am probably all the biblical characters Jesus spoke to during his earthly ministry. That’s pretty sobering. How’s that for God “meeting my need”? He does it every time, but rarely in the way that I expect.
https://www.truthforlife.org/broadcasts/2018/08/19/come-see-a-man-part-2-of-4-b/
With humility, Dawn Harris