Being noticed by God

I am outside and standing in the sun, waiting for God to notice me.  Before this, I am getting my mail.  Birds chirp.  Wind blows.  Leaves move.  Light pierces moving leaves.  I walk back to my yard, then stop.  I am alone.  No people.  No man. No woman.

Alone.

I stand in the sun letting it heat my shirt.  I wait for God to notice me.

I wait for some sign. Something that shows me he sees me and is reaching out to me.  Some clearly deliberate thing to happen.  Maybe a bird lands in front of me, looks at me, and approaches me.  It chirps.  It waits for me to chirp back (somehow it makes this known.)  I imitate it's whistle.  It does it back.  As I type I hear birds chirping to each other.  Echoing each other's chirp, the same rhythm and melody, one lower, the other higher.  One nearer.  The other farther.

They are responding to each other.  Alive.  In sync.  Relating.

I am typing, in my house, looking at the sun shining on leaves, feeling the shade of my house, seeing the breeze on the trees in my yard, not looking at the keys as I type, waiting for God to notice me. 

How do I know if he's noticing me?  Really?  The same way I know if any other person is noticing me.  When I am outside I see a man with a red shirt on, talking on a cell phone, approaching his mail box.  I notice him.  But how does he know I notice him?  He doesn't, as far as I can tell.  He is not looking at me, or in my direction, and I am not trying to get his attention.

How do I know if God is trying to get my attention, like me getting the attention of the man in the red shirt?

I'm noticing the birds, but so is everyone else in my neighborhood.  Where is everyone else, other than the man in the red shirt?

What if it is just me at home right now? 

Creation.
Sun.
Trees.
Breeze.

None of these have minds, emotions, or wills.
They can't reach out to me.
But they can by used by their Creator.
How would he write me a message in the dirt, or the sky?
How would he call to me through a birds so that I know the bird is his messenger?

Maybe Adam waits in Eden for God to notice him.  But he does.  He speaks to Adam.  "From these trees eat.  From this tree don't eat or you'll die."

God speaks to the first man and woman.  Even to the serpent.

God notices them disobeying him.

God notices the man alone, puts him to sleep, takes a rib, closes the flesh, and makes a woman.

Why?

God notices the man alone and says, "It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make him a complimentary companion."

He makes the woman and brings her to the man.
The man notices the woman; she, alone, is like him among all creatures.  He names her. 

I am waiting for God to notice me, to speak to me, to come to me. 

I am sitting in my living room.  Will he come?  Will an angel?  Will someone risen from the dead?

A revelation is God noticing me, revealing something he sees, hears, feels, thinks, chooses.

Am I alone?
I know I can pray.
I know God is everywhere at once, seeing all, knowing all, holding all together by his power.  Even me. 

This is God noticing me.
To be alive is to be noticed by God.
He is not passive.
He actively keeps me alive.
To be alive is to be noticed by God.
To be alive means God is paying attention...to me.

"In Him we live and move and have our being."

How To Interpret Signs From God (Part 3)

Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.  Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you."And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.” 
Judges 6:17-18

 

Now that you know how to interpret signs from God, know that God is compassionate.  Affirming.  Encouraging.  If you need a sign from Him, He is more than willing, and very able, to give you one.  As He did for Gideon, He will gladly do for you.

 

God didn't get angry with Gideon when Gideon asked for a sign.  He patiently waited for Gideon to return, and God gave him the sign he asked for.  God gave Gideon three more signs after the first one I quoted at the very top of this blog, four signs in all. 

• The second and third sign are the famous "Gideon's fleece" signs that have come to be a symbol of sign seeking.  I've heard ministers discourage "putting fleeces out for God." 

If by this they mean we think we need a "sign" before we do anything, including simple daily obedience, then yes, this is bad.  But that's not what Gideon was doing.  And if you are in the same position as Gideon, simply needing God's affirmation and encouragement, God respond to you like He responded to Gideon, because He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.

• The fourth sign God gave Gideon was by God's own initiation.  Listen to God Himself speaking to Gideon:

During that night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.  If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.”

Judges 7:9-11 (underline mine)

 

Look at the goodness of the God of Gideon. 

The God of affirmation and attestation.

The God of encouragement and compassion.

 

God acknowledges Gideon's fear without condemnation or displeasure towards him.  Instead, God sought to encourage Gideon and give him a sign that He was with Gideon. 

 

If you are afraid about where you are in life and need to know that God is with you, He will give you a sign if you ask Him for one.  He won't turn you away or rebuke you in your fear.  Ask Him to give you a sign if you need one, if you feel afraid or discouraged or unsure of where you are going.  Read the prayer below, and if you agree, pray it with me.

 

"Dear God, I'm afraid like Gideon was.  I'm discouraged.  I need to know that You are with me right now, or more importantly, that I am with You.  Please give me a sign today that I'm in Your will, and that You are pleased with me.  In Jesus name, by Your Spirit. Amen."

 

God loves you deeply, intensely, and intimately.  He is your Father if you believe in Jesus.  (And if you don't believe in Jesus, He still loves you, deeply, intensely, and intimately, and He wants you to believe in Him so that you may become His child today, right now. Believe in Him right now.  Simply say, "God, I now put my trust in you.")  He wants you to know His will for your life, wherever you are in life.  Ask Him for a sign, and He will give you one.  God loves you.  I love you.  Peace be with you.

How To Interpret Signs from God (Part 1)

How do you know if God is giving you a "sign" to do something, or to not do something?  If everything is going "your way," is that a "sign" that God is with you and blessing you?  And if nothing seems to be going your way, is that a sign that God is cursing you? 

At first I was going to go through every scripture that dealt with signs from God.  But then the Spirit showed me something that doesn't directly relate to signs from God, but gives a principle for interpreting signs.  Here it is:

For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.  But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
1Peter 2:19-20  (underlines mine)

Read the two verses above again.

Now imagine the two concepts I asked about earlier with two different kinds of men:

1. A good police officer.
2. A career criminal.

On one particular day in their lives:

• for the career criminal, everything is going "his way."
• and for the good police officer, nothing is going "his way."

The criminal is having a very good day committing crime.
The officer is having a very bad day stopping him, and other criminals.

Can the criminal say that God is giving him a "sign" that he is on God's side?
Can the officer say that God is giving him a "sign" to no longer be a police officer?

Imagine this.
When the criminal tries to get a good night sleep, he simply can't.  His conscience won't let him.  He has all of these dreams about dying in a gunfight with police, and he wakes up knowing he should give up his life of crime.


When the officer sleeps, he also has "nightmares," but his are discouraging and disheartening; demons taunt him and torment him with fear of dying in a gunfight. 

What's the difference between their "bad dreams" or insomnia?

Imagine once again.
After praying for a confirmation of his call to be an officer, the good officer receives a call to go to a house where there is a domestic dispute.  He goes to the house, solves the dispute, and the husband says these words, "It's clear you were meant to be a police officer.  You just saved our marriage." 

After praying to "whatever gods of thieves their may be," the career criminal sees the perfect opportunity for the perfect car theft:  A stupid woman leaves her car running and goes into the bathroom.  It's the easiest car theft ever!"

What distinguishes one "sign" from another in the life of the career criminal or the good officer?

Click HERE to find out.