God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Hebrews 1:1-4 NKJV
“Speak, Oh Lord, tell me why this pain! I need to know what to do next; if you would only tell me, then I could follow!!” Has that ever been the cry of your heart? I know it has been mine. Yet, does God speak to us? How does He speak and how can we know it is His voice?
In the midst of a storm, we turn our eyes upon the cross, seeking to hear God’s voice.
As we begin to study this book of Hebrews, we are immediately confronted with the words that God spoke through the prophets in various ways and various times. Throughout the Old Testament we have God’s word presented. He spoke in the narratives of the history. He spoke through the miracles in the lives of His people. At times He spoke through songs as He did in the book of Psalms; while at other times He spoke through instruction such as Proverbs. He spoke through the Old Testament prophets. He spoke in many ways so that each of us could uniquely hear His Voice. There was one major truth that rings throughout every scripture. “We are sinners incapable of reaching God were it not for His Grace and Love reaching forth to save us.” All of the Old Testament scripture points us toward Jesus Christ; the Son of God who took on flesh to live among us and to die that we might have life.
Look again at Hebrews 1:1; “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.” Jesus Christ the Son of God, the perfect image of God; through whom the world was made came to earth to live among us, to suffer alongside us, and then to die in our place. God spoke volumes to each and every one of us through His son concerning His love toward us and concerning His wrath against sin. Sin which separates us from Him. Our only hope for true joy is in Him; yet, we rush about our lives taking little notice of Him. That is until we are hurting and then we turn to plead for Him to “speak to us, to save us from the mess we are in, and to fix our problems.”
Turn for a moment to John 1
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made…. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:1-3,14
The sad truth is that all too often, we hurry about our lives with our Bibles laying unread, no time to spend alone with God in prayer, with TV, entertainment, and friends filling our days. Then we wonder, “Where is God?” When everything starts to unravel. In Him is life and meaning. Still we march on so often too busy to seek and Savor Jesus Christ as our greatest treasure, to feast upon His words to us. [bctt tweet=”Sometimes God’s greatest gift to us are hardships forcing us to realize that we need Him.” username=”effiedarlene”] C. S. Lewis wrote,
“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
Then, as we turn our face once more to gaze upon the cross; we begin to see Jesus Christ-“who is the express image of God’s Glory”. He who holds everything together by the power of His WORD. He through whom the world was created. When we turn to see Jesus Christ, we find in Him everything that we need to have joy, hope and love beyond anything we could ever have imagined. Oh that I might seek Him more, love Him more and lay aside all else that I might gaze upon Him.
God has throughout the ages spoken to us in many ways, but now He has spoken to us through His son. So the question is, “Are you listening?”
The Song I chose for you today is Speak, Oh Lord Let this song rise from your heart as a prayer today.
The picture today is used by permission of Ronald Barba who holds the copyright. Copies can be found at http://fineartamerica.com/featured/god-save-me-effie-darlene-barba.html
New King James Version(NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
©Effie Darlene Barba, 2016
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.