Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Proclaimers and God's voice

God still speaks to us today. The question is . . . are we listening?
On Saturday night I was laying in bed getting ready to drift off into sweet slumber and I had this song going through my head. All that kept going through my mind was "I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 miles more. . ." I hadn't heard that song in a long time. I couldn't remember the name of the group and it was driving me crazy. I couldn't sleep because this song and whoever wrote it was circling in my head over and over again.
Anyway, I came to church early the next morning and went up to the stage and was greeting the band. San, one of our guitarists, was tuning his guitar and just getting ready. When I heard him strumming this really familiar tune. I exclaimed "Hey Sam are you playing that 1000 miles song?!" He said it was. I was blown away. I haven't heard that song in forever and it comes up 2 times in like 12 hours. I asked what the name of the group was and he said it was The Proclaimers. I was so glad he could ease my tortured mind. Don't you hate when you can't remember stuff like that.
The story continues. . . During our community time (10 minutes of talking with new people and grabbing some coffee) a friend named Dave, came up to me to say Hello. I was wearing my glasses and he commented that he had never seen me in my glasses before. He said that during the worship I reminded him of the guy from the group The Proclaimers! He said that while He was thinking about it, God said to Him that I was His Proclaimer.
Amazing! That was the third time in less than 24 hours The Proclaimers and their one hit wonder came to my attention. In scripture, God often spoke 3 times for emphasis. (Holy, Holy, Holy, 3 parables about lostness, 3 parables about the end-times etc.)
God definitely got my attention. I began asking me what it meant. God often speaks metaphorically. That's why he used parables and didn't explain most of them. Jesus said "to Him that has ears let them hear." He was saying that to those who really want to search for the meaning in what He says would discover it. God often wants us to seek after Him and what He is saying. God loves active listeners.
So after seeking God and what He was trying to say to me, I felt that the words of the song were important. The song is a proclamation (get it, the proclaimers, proclamation. sorry I know it's a bad pun) of a man's willingness to walk 1000 miles just be with the one he loves. I think the Lord was letting me know that He was willing to do so much more than that because of His love for me. It also reveals that I often am unwilling to willingly go to any level of discomfort to worship Him and proclaim my love for Him. I often get miffed if I have to sing a song I don't particularly like during worship. I so casually hist the snooze button than get up early and spend a few minutes talking to Him before I start my day. But when I reflect on His willing sacrifice for me and His ongoing goodness to me I can't help but respond to Him.
I'm so glad speaks in mysteries, metaphors and one-hit-wonders.

1 comment:

  1. What I love is that God spoke to you in your language. Not that the Proclaimers represent the music you like, but you are a lover of music (at least the Kevin I knew 20 years ago :)

    Listening to God is certainly my growth point in a generation of 30 second sound bites.

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