Call To Me

Let your cry come to me, and I will give you an answer, and let you see great things and secret things of which you had no knowledge.
-Jeremiah 33:3

What if God suddenly interrupted whatever you were doing and whispered these words to you, "Call to me and I will answer and reveal to you wondrous secrets that you haven’t known".  What would you say?

Maybe you would hesitate or get tongue-tied.  Are you and I more used to the status quo than than asking what we really want?  Children are always asking for stuff.  We are God's children.  Perhaps we are a little bit "too adult" towards God, or are perfectionists and want to ask rightly. Our minds get in the way, so we don't know what to ask for.


Our minds can get log-jammed, so it is hard to know what to ask.  We think too much.  Some of us, because of the disappointments with asking and not seeming to get, have, "hope deferred makes the heart sick", disease.  This heart disease is fatal, but reversible.

We often need our hearts softened, purified, and changed before we can approach God. 

God says, "call and I will answer".  My heart says, "I have called and there was no answer."  But God says, "call and I will answer".  Am I going to listen to my disappointed heart or to God's inspired word?  Sounds like an easy dilemma, but that sick or disappointed heart comes to the forefront when God comes.

God wants to show us things that we do not know.  But, we fall for the know-it-all-trap.  It is a human condition.  To be a learner, a disciple, we have to focus our selves on learning new things, perhaps better things, perhaps more Christlike ways.

The truth is that we don't know it all.  We know a little.  We also may think we know something, but we are wrong.  We might be doing life very inefficiently, we might be hurting ourselves and others by the way we live, and we just don't know any better.  God says that if you ask, that He will answer and show you things that you do not know.

Did you get that?  You and I don't know a lot and God knows everything.  God says that He will show us things we do not know.  God says to ask and He will answer and show you things you do not know.  Your knowledge will increase and expand.  You will see things as God sees things.  What you know will change.

The answer to your prayers will change what you know.  God can answer any prayer for what you want or need, but what God really is after is to change what you know.  You might think you already have the essential doctrines down and know them.  That is not what I am talking about.  God wants a people who know His ways.  God wants a people who don't just know about him, but know him personally.

"I will show you great and mysterious things that you do not know."  Are you a disciple?  A disciple is a learner.  Learners are always learning more, learning things they did not know.  Be a life long learner.

What God has for us is beyond what we can imagine (Eph. 3:20) and God does not have a limited budget.  We limit ourselves by not asking and seeking (James 4:2, Matt. 7:7).  The wondrous or great things that are the answer to our prayers, if we would just ask and persevere in asking, are jaw dropping places of grace, grace, grace.  These answers that God has for you are nothing short of incredible.  God takes you into a new, higher place on the inside and on the outside.  Who do you think invented the concept of generosity and giving gifts?  God is generous and loves to surprise us with good gifts.

Derek Kidner puts it this way:

Although God can make himself heard, and has already done so in saying this, nevertheless to reveal all that he wants to say, he desires a hearer who is already reaching out to him. This is why prayer is never superfluous to the study of Scripture or the quest for guidance. God is then speaking to an upturned face, not a preoccupied back. 1

Call, pray, cry out, and ask.  When God asks us or invites us to do something, it is optimal to do it.  The Bible is a living book and God can highlight a verse to you.  Jeremiah 33:3 is not just an inspiring verse to put on a plaque on the wall,  but can you hear God making it alive to you today?  I do.  If you do, then please pray and let God answer.  Walking with the living God is exciting.  That is what life is, surprises, growth, being loved, and loving.  Jesus came so that we might have life, abundant life.  Go for it and let God be your father and lavish His generous love on you.  Amen.
________________________
1. Derek Kidner, The Message of Jeremiah, p. 141