Seeking God's Voice
 

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

 Sunday, January 13, 2008

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

You’ve just been offered a new promotion at work. The pay is good but what it will do for your career is even better. The hitch? You have to move to South Carolina if you want that position. Now that same position is here in Des Moines but it hasn’t come open and no telling whether it will or whether it won’t so you have to decide. Do you pack up the kids? Will you leave family? Pull them out of school? Move south? Will you keep the same position? Maybe put your career in jeopardy, stay here. You have to decide.

It’s becoming more and more evident that Mom can’t stay in the home by herself any longer. The last three months, she’s fallen twice. Once she sat there for six hours because nobody stopped by until finally someone did and helped her up. It’s time she has to go where there is care. Now there’s a care facility in her neighborhood and she has some friends there but you’ve also got an open bedroom with an attached bath right there. You have to decide. Should Mom go to the care facility or move in with you?

These are big decisions that we face in life. These are the huge decisions of life. This isn’t deciding what we’re going to have for lunch today, whether I’m going to wear a blue shirt or a white shirt. This isn’t a decision about how we’re going to decorate the family room. These are life-altering, life-changing decisions that all of us face at one time or another. It’s the kind of decision that has an impact on the rest of our lives and it has an impact on the people around us.

How do we make those decisions? How do we come to a decision that we feel comfortable with? More importantly, how do we come to a decision that we think God wants us to come to? How can we look to God to guide and direct us in making those decisions?

For the next three weeks, we’re going to dig into God’s Word and we’re going to mine out of that some principles we can use so we can make decisions that are guided by Him. We begin this morning by seeking God’s voice. We want to hear what God has to say but how can you listen to God? How do we know we’re hearing God? How can we seek His voice so we can be guided, directed, nudged in one direction or another in these big decisions we have to make?

We look to the Old Testament person of Nehemiah. Nehemiah had a huge decision, one of those life-altering decisions ahead of him and we see in the first chapter that records his story some principles about how he seeks to hear God’s voice, how he seeks to be guided and directed by God.

A little bit of background about Nehemiah before we jump into this. Nehemiah is living at a time when all of Israel pretty much is in exile in Babylon. They have been taken over numerous times by all of their enemies. Finally now, the nation of Israel is in shambles. Most of the Israelites have been transported over into Babylon but there are a few, a remnant that have been allowed to return back to the Promise Land, to go back to Jerusalem hopefully, to rebuild the city. Now you recall how important Jerusalem is for the Israelites, as important as it is today. It’s at the hub of who they are as a people. That’s where the temple is. That’s their capital city and so there is concern that Jerusalem is being rebuilt. So Nehemiah’s brother comes and Nehemiah says, “So how are things going back home? What’s happening with the people who have been allowed to return and how is the city doing?” The report is not good. People are in despair. The walls are broken down. All of the gates have been burned up. That means the Israelites’ enemies can invade at will and they are. It’s a disgrace to the people. It’s a threat to the people. What’s Nehemiah going to do?

He has a huge decision ahead of him. Is there anything he can do? Does he go back to Jerusalem or does he stay where he is? Now add into the mix of that Nehemiah says, “I was the cupbearer of the king.” Now if you’re going to be in exile, that’s the position you want to have is the cupbearer to the king. He’s living in the palace. His job is to choose the wine for the king and then to taste the wine before he gives it to the king, one to make sure it’s correct, the other part not so good, to make sure it’s not poisoned. But that’s the job to have. He’s living in the palace. He’s living in luxury. Does he leave all that behind? And if he does, what can one man do back in Jerusalem?

So he seeks God’s voice. He seeks to hear from God. And the first thing we see Nehemiah do is he takes away the emotion. If we’re going to hear God, if we’re going to seek His voice and really listen to what He has to say, then we have to clear several things away so we can hear God’s voice. And the first thing we take away are the emotions. We take away all that is sort of impacting us, that we’re feeling at a gut level. That’s really hard to do because we’re emotional people. God has created us that way and so whenever we’re faced with a large decision, there are always all kinds of emotions that are stirred up inside of us. The problem is emotions are not a good basis to make a decision. Usually, emotionally-based decisions turn into rash decision. For instance, if Nehemiah would have let his emotions take care of him, one of two things could have happened. The first thing could have been, as soon as his brother reported to him everything that’s happening back there, he could have rushed to his room, packed his bag, escaped from the palace and headed back to Jerusalem. And how much good would that do? The second thing he could have done, he could have fallen into despair himself, got into a deep depression, remorse. “The people are ruined. Once again, we’re being invaded. All is lost.” There’s nothing he can do and just sort of wallow in self pity. And what good would that do?

You remove the emotion. You avoid the rash decision because rash decisions are rarely good decisions. Usually rash decisions are decisions that you end up regretting later on. You know, it’s a decision that you make when you’re on the new car lot and you’re looking at this vehicle that really you have no business looking at but the salesman is talking the talk and you’re behind the wheel and you’re saying to yourself, “This is great.” And in your excitement, in your exuberance, you sign on the dotted line. And then three weeks later, you get the payment book. And all of a sudden, you decide you can’t afford this vehicle. And now it’s too late.

It’s when motivated by love and maybe just a little bit of guilt, you bring one of your parents into your home only to discover the amount of care they need is way beyond what you or anyone else could give to them. Rash decisions, emotionally-based decisions rarely turn out to be good decisions. So we remove the emotions as much as we can. We take them away so we can hear God’s voice.

Now it’s important that we acknowledge the emotions that are there. It’s not to say we ignore how we’re feeling and what’s going on inside of our heart. Nehemiah acknowledged the emotions that were happening for him. It says he sat down and cried like a baby. And he himself was writing, “I sat down and I wept. And then I mourned for days,” over the despair of his people back in Jerusalem. So he acknowledged his emotions. He said, “This is the sorrow I have.” But he didn’t base his decision on the sorrow that he was feeling or the despair that was in his heart. He recognized them and then he moved on to the decision.

It’s important for you and I to acknowledge and to look at the emotions we feel when we’re faced with one of these large decisions. What’s going on inside of us? Are we feeling angry because we have to make the decision? Are we feeling sorrowful about it? Is there anger? Is there guilt? Is there apprehension? Is there anxiety? What’s going on inside of me? You recognize and you acknowledge those emotions that are happening and say, “Now is that really what should be guiding and directing this decision?” Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we should be some cold, heartless machine that, based only on logic, we make our decisions in life. Emotions will always have a part in these large decisions. But if we can recognize them, if we can acknowledge them, if we can clear them out of the way as much as we can, we can seek to hear God’s voice instead of only hearing the emotions going on inside of us.

Then we need to clear away some of the other distractions as well. If we’re going to hear God’s voice, if we’re going to seek it out, we need to get rid of all the distractions we can, clear away all of the clutter and it begins with confession. Now that sounds a little bit strange to me also. We start with confession? We have a big decision to make here and now you’re going to distract me by focusing in all these things I’ve done wrong? What do you mean we have to start with confession? We have a decision to be made here. But one of the number one distractions in your life is the simpleness in your life. All the while that you’re trying to make a decision, you’re trying to focus on the decision, instead you’re going to focus in on the what if’s and the if only’s. What if I had done this in the past? If only I had not done that. All of a sudden, we start regretting and feeling guilty and bad about past decisions whether they were good or bad decisions. Pretty soon, we’re just wound up in the guilt of that and the remorse and we never get to the matter at hand. We never take time to hear what God has to say. We start with confession.

That’s what Nehemiah did. Nehemiah confesses the sin of his people but then he brings it down to himself. He says, “God, I confess my sinfulness.” But then he remembers God’s grace and he remembers God’s forgiveness. It’s the starting point for us to clear away the clutter. So we come to God, “God, I’m a sinful human being. I’m flawed. And maybe there are some things here that are sort of influencing me, maybe it’s greed, maybe it’s selfishness that’s going to influence this decision. God, I need your forgiveness.” And then remember God’s grace and promises. Remember this is the God who says if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just and He will forgive you all unrighteousness. Remember, this is the God who loved you so much that He sent His one and only Son. Remember, this is the Son who came and He lived among us and then He died for us. Because of His sacrifice on the cross, because of the blood He spilled, our sins have been washed away. We can clear away all of the guilt and all of the what if’s and all of the if only’s and we clear that away so we can start seeking God’s voice and hearing God’s voice. Then we clear away all the rest of the clutter that could be clouding our minds, the assumptions we have, our predisposition to go one way or the other. What I’m saying is you have to suspend judgment and suspend decision making. That’s not easy. Usually when we have a decision, we’re wavering one way and then maybe we’ll waver the other way. I’m saying you suspend the decision. You put no parameters around God because you’re seeking God’s input. You’re seeking to hear His voice so you’re not going to tell God how you should decide. So as difficult as it is, you live in the tension of suspending the decision and opening yourself up so God can speak to you.

And then you take the time to focus on God. It takes time for big decisions. We’re talking days or weeks, not hours or minutes. And that may be foreign to you. Myself, I make fast decisions. It’s just how I am. I don’t know if it’s good, bad or in between but my wife is the same way. We can go out in an afternoon and, in a series of three hours, we can hit three stores, make a decision on a major appliance, buy it, order it, have it delivered. We’re on to the next thing. But we’re not talking about appliances here. We’re talking about those major decisions in life, those forks in the road that are going to have a major impact. They deserve time because it takes time to focus in on God.

Nehemiah reports that he mourned for days. And then he says to God, “I’ve been praying to you night and day, day and night I’ve been praying to you.” Now how often do we just throw up a quick prayer and say, “Okay, now I’ve consulted God in the decision-making process. God, I’m trying to decide about this. What do you think I should do? A bolt of lightening doesn’t come. I guess I’m on my own. I’ll have to make the decision.” Night and day, day and night he’s praying to God. He’s taking time to come into God’s presence and to listen to God’s voice.

My friends, God rarely answers in a lightening bolt and in dramatic ways. It reminds me of Elijah in the Old Testament. You may recall at one point Elijah got so frustrated with the people that he ran away and he was holed up in a cave. And God said, “You can’t do that, Elijah.” And so He comes to him and He says, “Elijah, come out of the cave and I’m going to pass in front of you.” And then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, came a fire but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, came a gentle whisper. God was in the gentle whisper. You have to be awfully quiet to hear a whisper. You have to really listen intently to hear a whisper. It takes time to clear away the clutter and all the things that could cloud our minds to come into God’s presence and seek His voice and to hear the whisper. Maybe you need to get away. Maybe you need to go off into some solitude place but listen for the whisper of God leading one way or the other.

Then you have to take time. You have to take time to test the waters. In other words, a decision is going to have to be made. You cannot put it off forever so sooner or later, you have to make that decision. You either have to go right or you have to go left. Which way are you going to go? Well, take the time to test the water. What I mean by that is you don’t make the decision and then say, “I will not waver from this decision no matter what happens, no matter what the circumstances are, I’ll never change from that decision.” You make the decision but then you test the waters. “God, am I going in the right direction? Have I listened correctly? Have I heard you correctly?” You see, God doesn’t expect us to turn our brains off. God says you’re still thinking about it when you’re praying. You’re still suspending that judgment but you’re taking in everything around you.

Nehemiah was praying and thinking at the same time. You see it at the end of his prayer. He says to God, “Give your servant success today in the presence of this man.” He’s going into the presence of the king. Nehemiah is seeking God’s voice but he also has something in mind and he’s saying, “I’m thinking, God, you’re leading me this way but I’m going to test the waters.” So he goes in the presence of the king in Chapter 2. The king looks at Nehemiah and says, “Well, you don’t look good, Nehemiah. You look awfully sad.” God opened up the door. Nehemiah says, “Well, let me tell you why I’m sad.” And then the king said, “What do you want to do about that, Nehemiah?” God opened up another door. But then scripture records that Nehemiah prayed to God, “Just checking in. God, am I reading this right? Am I listening? Am I hearing you correctly? Are you opening up this door? Are you leading me down this path?” He prays to God before he proceeds any further. He’s testing the waters.

You and I have to test the waters when we make these big decisions. We’re going to start heading down that road but each time, we’re going to come back checking in with God. “God, am I doing the right thing by going there?” I’m not talking about second guessing ourselves. I’m talking about we’re looking for green lights. We’re looking for yellow lights. We’re looking for red lights. “God, are you giving me the go-ahead? Are you putting up a caution sign? What is it you’re trying to say to me here?” We’re constantly coming back to God in prayer. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any bumps along the road. There will this side of heaven. No matter what we decide, there will always be challenges but what we’re asking is, “God, are you putting up a roadblock or are you clearing the path? Are you closing doors or are you opening doors? Am I listening correctly? Have I heard you?” Always checking back in to make sure we’re going down the path that He’s guiding us on, that He’s directing us.

But it all comes down to some time. Big decisions take time. They take time for us to weed through all of the clutter and to sort of remove as much as we can the emotions and to remove the clutter of our mind and suspend judgment and suspend the decision and to come into God’s presence and to pray to Him night and day and day and night and seek where He’s leading us. It takes time to test the waters, to say, “God, am I going down the right path?” But when we take the time, when we open ourselves up and we listen for the whisper, God answers and God will lead and God will direct us. Amen.