Tin Cottage Journal

Tin Cottage Journal
Showing posts with label Holy Spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holy Spirit. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Lost? Learn to Listen!




Life has become more complex than ever. 

On a personal level, we make decisions concerning our health, careers, finances, relationships and parenting choices.  Our families depend on us to tend and guide them well.

Furthermore, we have moral and civic responsibilities.  Should we choose to engage, we can influence the stewardship of natural and financial resources, caring for the less fortunate, and guiding the character of our communities and our states.

On a national level, we are responsible to be honest and informed voters, voices for justice and defenders of freedom for all.  Our vote can determine the fate of the homeless, the disabled, the unborn, the uninsured, the immigrant and the refuge.

Even globally, we, Americans especially, because we have a government "of the people," can address issues concerning war, peace, world hunger, education and more. 

Information abounds.  It's more difficult than ever, without hardening our hearts, to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the sick, the hungry, the oppressed, and the homeless on our doorstep. 

Even on a personal level, the availability of scientific studies, television talk shows and celebrity doctors keeps us thoroughly informed and demands our best efforts as parents, spouses, sons and daughters, to insure our families are educated and healthy, mentally, physically and spiritually.

How can we handle it all?  How can we sort the information and our priorities and discern which choices are best?  Which needs are our God given assignments?

Facing such demands, we need the gentle guidance of God's Holy Spirit to have any chance of choosing well, or even to maintain our sanity!  However, unless we listen for that still, small voice, we will only hear the clamor of our own minds and the voices that surround us.

Isaiah 30:21 offers just the instruction and assurance we need for such a time as this.  The Lord says,

"Whether you turn to the right

or to the left, your ears will hear
a voice  behind you, saying, 
“This is the way; walk in it.”


That sounds like an offer I can't afford to refuse!

When have you been guided by that still, small voice?
What was the outcome?

How have your missed out on this offer?  What were the results in your circumstances?