Gloria Dei Lutheran Church | Urbandale, Iowa

Listening to God - Journaling

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Listen. It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Aren’t we tempted at times to think that listening is just a passive activity? I mean, how hard can it be to just listen? You just sit back and don’t say anything and you can listen to someone else.

But you all probably know it’s not that easy, is it? Listening is an activity. It’s something you have to work on. We’re bombarded by so many things going on around us in our lives and our minds are filled with so many activities and so many thoughts and so many plans that we have that it’s difficult to listen and really hear.

And on top of that, it’s one thing to listen to another human being as they sit and they stand in front of you and you can hear their voice and you can see the person but it’s quite something else to listen to God. Because although there have been times in history where God has physically appeared and God has verbally spoken to His people, they’re pretty few and far between. God is much more subtle than that when He talks to His people.

So it’s not so easy to listen to God. And yet we want to hear God speak into our lives. We want to hear Him speak into our lives when things are going well and when things are not going well. We want to hear and know what God’s will is for our lives and His guidance, His direction for our lives.

And that’s why, beginning today, we have a series of messages to help us learn how can we listen to God? We’re going back to some ancient spiritual practices, some ancient spiritual disciplines that, throughout time, God’s people have used as a way, as a tool in which they can be more tuned into, that they can listen to God. I’m guessing that some of them are going to be outside of your comfort zone and you’re going to say where are we going with this? I’m going to ask you to give them a shot. So just try it. It’s worked for thousands of years for God’s people. Maybe we can breath new life into it and we can discover a way in which we can better listen to God.

We begin with the ancient practice of journaling, of just writing things down, whether that’s more of in a diary fashion where you write the events of the day or maybe it’s a prayer log in which you list the people that you’re praying for and how God has answered those prayers, whether it’s something you do electronically because now we have web blogs and we have Facebook and we have tweeting. Does anybody else feel ridiculous saying “tweeting?” I do but that’s the world we live in. People are tweeting out there. It’s the modern way of journaling, of writing down the events of life.

Now for some of you, maybe you do this. Some of you, maybe it’s a whole new activity. Now I don’t mean to embarrass you but if you feel comfortable enough, those of you who keep a journal or have in the past or a diary, would you raise your hand? Okay. Kind of the same results as last night, not too many but the majority of you are female who do that. That’s because I think there’s a stigma for us men because we certainly don’t want to keep a diary. I understand that. Most diaries I’ve seen are pink and flowery and poufy. So let’s not do semantics here, so we won’t call it a diary. Journaling sounds more masculine, don’t you think? If that doesn’t work, then how about a recording of today’s events. If that doesn’t work, how about Captain’s Log. I don’t care. Alright, let’s not get into semantics here because there are some great benefits that I’d like to point out to you as far as journaling and writing down events.

And lest you think that it’s not a manly activity, men, I’d like to point out from the Old Testament one of the greatest people recorded in the Old Testament was also quite a journalist. I’m talking about King David. You can’t get more of a manly man than King David. King David is the one who led the conquest into the Promise Land. He’s the one who went up against all the armies into the Promise Land, led battle after battle after battle and yet, read the book of Psalm, my friends. Most of them are written by David and I submit to you that is his journal.

As David pours out his heart to God in various ways at various times in his life, in fact, we’re going to use David’s journal this morning to point out three key times that I believe journaling can help us listen to God as He speaks into our lives.

The first time God speaks into our lives, I think the most prevalent is God speaks through pain. God doesn’t cause pain in your life and God doesn’t take any delight in the pain of your life but God will speak powerfully through times of pain and struggle in your life. It’s during those stressful moments, during those trying times that usually, we’re the most open to hearing from God. And I submit to you that journaling during this time can help us listen better to what God is saying to us.

Case in point is David. Alright, I’ve alluded to the fact David is the great warrior king. He’s the one who went up against countless armies. He went up against countless foreign armies, some of them outnumbering him at times. This guy is not afraid of anything. He doesn’t even blink and yet there is an event that happens in his life that rips his heart out. It’s recorded in 2 Samuel 17. You’ll read about the fact that one of his own sons conspires against him.

Scripture records for us that Absalom spent four years, scripture says, “Winning the hearts of the people.” Winning the hearts of the people so they would follow him instead of David. And then at the end of those four years, he pulls together an army and he goes up against his father. Now David has fought kings before. David has fought nations before. He’s gone to war but never against his own people and never against his own son. And it rips his heart out.

Listen from David’s journal, we know as it Psalm 55, “My heart is in anguish within me. The terrors of death assail me. Fear and trembling have beset me. Horror has overwhelmed me.” And he goes on from there pouring his heart out to God of the anguish and the angst that’s going on inside of him and the fear, the fear for his very life because Absalom is a powerful enemy and it looks like he just might win the battle. Well, David can’t go to his generals and say that. He can’t go out to his people and say, “I’m scared to death.” He is the leader of the nation. He needs to be strong. But yet all of these emotions are pent up inside of him. So he journals. He pours out his heart to God. It’s his release valve of all of his fears and all of his angst. And it clears the way for God to speak into his life.

What David knew thousands of years ago, modern day psychologists have confirmed today. Talk to any psychologist or therapist, they will tell you that in those trying times in life, when something is happening which is out of your control, one of the most therapeutic things you can do is journal. One of the best things you can do is just write down all of your thoughts and all of your emotions and pour them out on paper. They will tell that what happens is when you’re just thinking about them, first of all, it’s all bottled up inside of you and you’re not using your entire brain to process what’s happening in your life. But when you take a pen or pencil in hand or a keyboard on your fingertips and you write down, that accesses the right side of your brain, the analytical side of your brain because you have a task to do. But at the same time, you’re accessing the left side of your brain, that is, the creative side of your brain because you’re writing and trying to express yourself and so you’re accessing your whole brain to pour out on paper and, more often than not, they’ll say we usually turn to our analytical side to solve problems but when we really are in a mess, what we need is a creative solution. And when we journal and when we write it down, usually the creative solution comes forward. That’s how psychologists explain it.

I say that’s how God speaks to us if we’re listening. That is, we pour out our heart on paper. As we clear out of the way the anger and the angst and the attitude, then we can hear God. Then He can speak into our lives. When we get rid of all of the emotions and we get rid of all of the junk that is clouding our minds and our hearts, then we open ourselves up to God pouring Himself into us. God speaks to us in times of pain but it’s an opportunity for us to listen and I believe that journaling, writing it down, helps us listen better.

God speaks to us in just everyday life. In everyday occurrences that happen throughout time, God speaks to us but we’ll miss it if we don’t write it down. If we can’t go back and look at what God has done in our lives, we’ll miss the fact that God was active, that God was really speaking to us. Case in point, these words were written down. See if you recognize them. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Do you recognize those? Who spoke them, go ahead, who spoke those words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus did, right? Yeah. He was quoting from David’s journal, Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It’s one of the many instances in where Jesus fulfills something from the Old Testament and there are many, many prophesies in the Old Testament that come to fulfillment in Jesus. But if the prophesies hadn’t been written down, we couldn’t connect the dots and see that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus is the Son of God. But because they were written down, it gives us that confirmation beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus is who He said He is.

Case in point: Let’s pick eight prophesies from the Old Testament and pick eight prophesies that Jesus could have no control over, the type of birth, where He’d be born, the piercing of His side with a spear. How about where His ministry would be, where He’d be at as a child, how He died, how He’d be resurrected, those kind of prophesies that you just couldn’t control?

So what are the odds, what’s the probability that just a random man being born could fulfill just eight of the prophesies about Jesus? Well, somebody with a whole lot of time on their hands figured it out. One in one trillion. One in one trillion is the probability that just a random man could fulfill all the prophesies. To put that in perspective, if we took one trillion silver dollars and if we spread them out over the state of Iowa from corner to corner, border to border, it probably would be about three feet tall. If on one of those coins you put a dollop of paint and you mix it up with all the rest and then you dropped a person into the middle of the state and said, “Walk in any direction as you want, as long as you want, reach down and pick up one coin,” the chance that they would pick up the one coin that had the dollop of paint is one in one trillion.

God left no room for doubt that Jesus is the Son of God, that you and I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus born of Mary, that Jesus who grew up in the house of Joseph, that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah. He is the Son of God and by putting our faith and our trust and our hope in Him, forgiveness is found, new life is given to us and an eternity in heaven is promised to all of us. But if they hadn’t written it down, if David hadn’t recorded Psalm 22, if Isaiah hadn’t given us the prophesy, if Jeremiah hadn’t had Baruch write it down, if any of the prophets hadn’t have taken pen or quill in hand and wrote it down, we couldn’t look back today.

In our lives, when we write things down, it gives us the opportunity to see God at work. When we just record everyday events, we don’t really see it while it’s happening because we’re in the middle of it but when we look back, we could say, “Ah, that’s what was going on.” It’s like when my kids are growing up, I don’t realize they’re getting taller until one day I look down and their pants are about this short. I say, “Oh, they must have grown.” You don’t wake up one morning and say, “You know, I think you grew a millimeter.” We just don’t notice that. It’s like taking out the photographs of your children. There they are as a baby, then 2 years, 5 years, 8 years, 18 years, 20 years old and you look at all the photos and say, “Wow, look at the change.” But if you couldn’t look back at the photos, you couldn’t know the dramatic change.

When we record life’s events and we keep a record of it and we go back six months, a year, two years and we page through, “Wow. I didn’t understand back then but look what God was doing.” Or we write down the things we’re praying about and the people we’re praying for and then we look back and we say, “Wow, look what God did.” God speaks to us in life and I submit that listening is enhanced when we write it down, when we can look back at what God has done.

God also speaks to us in the ordinary. The things that we could easily just pass by and take for granted or not even pay attention to but when we call attention to it and we sort of solidify it by writing a note and just jotting down a little bit about it, it then shows God speaking to us.

One last entry from David’s journal, Psalm 97, “His lightening lights up the world. The earth sees and trembles. The heavens proclaim His righteousness and all the peoples see His glory.” Where you and I might see a thunderstorm, David saw the glory of God. Where you and I might go out and say it’s a beautiful evening, David would say, “Look at the majesty of God’s creation and at His universe.”

There are things that we could easily pass by and pay no attention to and yet, I submit God is speaking to us in those if we would just take note of it and if we would jot a note about it. God doesn’t just show up in times of crisis. God is with us every moment of every day. He says, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” Jesus, before He went up into heaven, He says, “Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.” Jesus doesn’t just show up in the nick of time to help us because Jesus never left. He’s always with us.

So when the everyday events of life, if we open our eyes, if we articulate it on paper, maybe we can listen a little bit better. As we see the sun rise or the sun set, as we watch the flowers blossom in the spring or a little bit later on, as the garden produces and it’s fruitful for us, when a child or grandchild walks by and the things that we might be tempted to take for granted and just pass by, if we jot a note of the wonder and the majesty of God, He’s speaking to us if we’ll just listen.

This coming week, I want to challenge you to try it. The majority of you do not journal. I am in the majority. I have never done it. That’s probably why my Facebook is terrible, people think I’ve fallen off the face of the earth. I never even open the silly thing up. But I’m going to make a commitment to you. For the next week, I’m going to journal. I don’t know if I’m going to do it on Facebook or if I’m going to do it privately, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I’m certainly not going to tweet, I can tell you that. I’m just not there. But I’m going to do it.

And I invite you to do it with me. There are several links on our webpage that talk about journaling, techniques of journaling. Go to those and check it out. Check out the experiential room, maybe work through there. Don’t make it complex. Make it simple. Make it easy. You really need to do it longer than a week but I’m only going to ask for a week from you and, at the end of the week, just ask yourself, does this ancient practice of journaling, is this a way in which God can speak? Is this a way in which I can be more tuned in, that I can listen to God? Amen.