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SPIRITUAL GROWTH ARTICLES
for the
Christian Woman

HEARKEN

God Leads Us Through What We Know

  1. Create Margin
  2. Hearken!
    • God Leads Us Through What We Know
    • Hearing His Voice through the Din
    • Hearing His Confirming Voice
    • Hearing His Voice through a Child
  3. Invite the Lord’s Chastening through Obedience
  4. Believe and Abide (3 parts)
  5. Simply Surrender
  6. Worship and Pray Without Ceasing
  7. Be Content and Hope in Christ
  8. Wisely Steward Your Liberty in Christ

Using two examples, this article offers a practical clarification of a comment made in the Spiritual Growth of a Christian Woman article Hearken:

God leads us through what we know,
not through what we don’t know.

EXAMPLE 1

My seven-year-old son has limited experience in life, as do most seven-year-old boys.

One night at the supper table, this son asked his older sister, “Why are we going to see our aunt in the van all crunched up?” This comment seemed to come out of nowhere. None of us at the supper table could figure out what he was talking about. After a few moments of my son’s seemingly convoluted explanation, my daughter began smiling, trying not laugh, because she had figured out the context of his comment.

To put this comment in perspective…

The day before my son made the comment, four of my children (including this son) and I were in the car waving goodbye to a good friend of mine whom they address as “aunt.”

My children like to wave furiously and affectionately shout things from the car windows to the people they love as we drive away. So as usual, they were waving furiously and affectionately shouting out the car windows, “Bye! We love you! See you next week! Hug, hug, kiss, kiss! “ and then my older daughter jokingly shouted, “See you at the Van Cliburn Piano Competition.”

During our visit my friend, an excellent “amateur” pianist, was discussing various things about music with my daughter, who is a music and mathematics major in college. One of the things they discussed was the amateur level of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition; thus, the comment my daughter made to my friend.

My seven-year-old son must have been very confused by this comment because of his limited experience with music. He translated “See you at the Van Cliburn competition” as follows: We’re going to see our aunt in “the van all crunched up.”

It was practically impossible to explain my daughter’s comment to my son because he simply didn’t know nor understand about amateur piano competitions, nor about music in general. Because of his limited knowledge, we could not lead him to an understanding.

EXAMPLE 2

Our library system has a series of videos entitled Live Action Videos for Kids: There Goes A… helicopter, ...space ship, ...motorcycle, ..... police car, et cetera. The two adult characters on each video, Becky and Dave, experience all sorts of silly adventures while they inform the child/viewer about the topic of that particular video.

In 2003, our five-year-old daughter was watching There Goes a Truck. As Becky and Dave were transporting goods via tractor-trailer, Dave as passenger said to Becky as driver, "Remember now, don't fall asleep at the wheel."

My daughter commented, "If Becky falls asleep, she'll choke on her gum."

That funny comment really spoke to my heart about the way we adults sometimes view situations from our limited understanding. As adults, we may evaluate the situation based on what we know and/or what we understand, just like my daughter did. My daughter had no experience with driving and didn’t realize that falling asleep at the wheel could cause great harm, perhaps even death. She only saw Becky chewing gum and, devoid of the driver experience, she saw the danger in a different way than the real danger.

As I thought about this viewpoint, the Lord whispered to me to be careful how I evaluate a situation. I may not have the full experience or understanding; however, the Lord does and I need to trust Him, which grows my faith.

Not only do I teach my children, but they also teach me.

Similarly, if we have a limited knowledge of God and His ways,
we too will find it difficult to hearken to Him,
to discern His message to us.

As we willing obey God and create the margin we need to begin the process of hearkening to Him, His Spirit will lead us to abide and He will give us revelation in the knowledge of Himself.

The knowledge of Him will open our ears (Luke 8:8)
to His Voice leading us to wisdom
Who is Christ.

I pray that…
God..may give to you
a spirit of wisdom and of revelation
in the knowledge of Him.
~Ephesians 1:17

SPIRITUAL GROWTH OF A CHRISTIAN WOMAN
SERIES
Links and Navigation Help

  1. Create Margin
    Purposefully develop an environment that fosters spiritual growth.

  2. Hearken!
    Cultivate discerning the meaning of His message to you.

  3. Invite the Lord’s Chastening through Obedience
    Obey—through your personal conduct—the seemingly little things God has set before you.

  4. Believe and Abide, Part 1 of 3
    Believe and Abide, Part 2 of 3
    Believe and Abide, Part 3 of 3
    Believe Him as you abide and be released to love.

  5. Simply Surrender
    Now that the flesh has no power over you, walk in the Light and simply surrender.

  6. Worship and Pray Without Ceasing
    God seeks you to worship in spirit and in truth moment by moment.

  7. Be Content and Hope in Christ
    Serve the Living God, in Whom you find your contentment.

  8. Wisely Steward Your Liberty
    You are free indeed! Praise the Lord!

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