Hearing from God

Part of my faith goals this year is to gain access to God's supernatural wisdom and instructions. I hope this doesn't creep you out, but I believe He really is capable of giving wisdom and instruction incredibly specific to our situation, or what we're asking for. Example? When God led Noah to build the ark, and He gave Noah the details such as measurements, number of rooms and decks, etc.. More? When God instructed Israelites to build the Ark of the Lord where His presence will dwell; Bezaleel, God's specific artist for this project was told of the exact materials to be used. And I asked God that I be able to hear His instructions clearly, and specific to my situation.

Here's His--my goodness--specific instruction after remembering the examples I shared with you, is: "READ, KNOW, MEDITATE ON and BELIEVE, then OBEY My Word."

My immediate answer was, "Lord naman; I read the Word, I know it, I believe it, ano pa bang kulang? (What else is lacking?)"

Of course, God and His brilliant common sense that He also built into me led me to see that what lacked in the equation: MEDITATING on the Word.

I know we discussed this before, that meditating is more than just humming incomprehensible syllables ("Hummmm... Hummmm... Bacoooon... Cheeeeese..." Okay, fine, I was so hungry while I was writing this through our annual prayer and fasting!), but it is really studying and understanding what the Word says, dwelling on this understanding DAY and NIGHT--that's what God told Joshua--and knowing it by heart. You may have asked, "Why the need to meditate?" Because I also did, hehe. The truth is, we know that this is important, but we're trying to justify that it's not necessary because we have all other important things to deal with it during the day. God revealed my callous heart to me by giving me the thought, "What could be more important than God?" I was quiet, in my thoughts and in my heart, because nothing could ever be more important than God. 

Amazingly, this gracious Father that we have still answered my question. And I will lay His answer down one by one:

- So you would know Me better: He revealed His character and attributes to us in the Word, nowhere else. Although His creation may have some semblance to His greatness, it's not enough. But the Bible is clear-cut on who God is. He wants us to get to know Him better because He wants us to trust Him. We don't trust a stranger, or somebody we just met whom we know just by name with our lives, di ba?

- This is the REVEALED instruction: Remember the 10 commandments? I'm not going to enumerate them, because I haven't memorized yet =P I want you to know that those are NOT THE ONLY INSTRUCTIONS God left for us to serve as our life-guide. The Old Testament alone has some 600++ commands that the Jews needed to obey every. Single. Day. The Pharisees, those Jewish priests back in the olden days, have memorized all of it. What more for us who have the commands from the New Testament? The point is, God wants us to have the same fervor as the Pharisees in knowing the Word EXECEPT, He doesn't want us to go fanatic over it, but He wants us to know it by heart, love the instructions because we already trust in Him, and to obey it.

- If you do this two, ONLY THEN will I reveal the "Secret Things" I have for you: Kasi nga, kung yung revealed character of God nga, hind pa alam and hindi ma-trust, tapos yung revealed word hindi pa masunod, pa'no pa yung mga ire-reveal nya para sa'yo lang? That was a big "Oo nga naman" for me.

I don't want to leave a huge burden on us in meditating on the Word, because we don't need to be deep and theological about the Bible right away... but somehow, we need to START. For me, it's similar to my liking of balut; I've heard a lot of people say "It's not for me," then all the crazy kadiri stuff they know about it when they haven't even tried. So I had to try for myself before I can actually decide, then I found out that it's actually good, and I really like it.
So, let's start today in READING, KNOWING, MEDITATING ON (extra emphasis!) and BELIEVING then OBEYING God's Word? Devotional materials are good, but nothing beats God's personal revelation to you, that will help you love and trust Him even more. I'm not saying though that soon after you start doing this, you will begin to hear God's specific instructions (He has His own timing for that), but when that time comes, trust me--YOU'LL KNOW that it's coming from God.


**Relevant Note: I wrote this five days before the Sunday our pastor preached about hearing specific instructions from God. The very moment the pastor mentioned "We will talk about hearing specific instructions from God", I couldn't stop squealing in my head!