The other night we had a weather phenomenon that is new to me despite years of living places with real winter weather: thunder snow. Ever experienced that? Here we are in February, it's cold outside, and lightning is illuminating the nighttime skies, followed by thunder and accompanied by high winds and blowing snow. We expect the lightning bolts in the summertime, but not in the winter.
People often say that they would like a "lightning bolt" experience when they are seeking direction for a decision or inspiration for an idea. I have wished and prayed for such a thing on many occasions, but those prayers seem to fall on deaf ears most of the time. This is puzzling; after all, the Bible says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7). Why don't we get the lightning bolt?
Maybe the better question is why we get it when we do. I had one the other day. I was waiting at the doctor's office, trying to read a novel but actually ruminating on some career decisions I need to make. I knew I had to deal with these decisions but was really unsure of what God wanted me to do. I finally said, with a totally open mind and heart, "God, I just need some direction. Your direction. That's it." Well, nothing happened right away, so I picked up my book and resumed reading. I turned the page, and there in front of me was a paragraph about the very thing I was considering. In black and white on one page out of hundreds in a book with no other content related to this subject, there lay His direction.
Some will say it's a coincidence, but my knowledge of statistics casts doubt on that theory. Some will say I wanted it to confirm something I desired, but again, I truly wasn't looking for confirmation, just direction. Some will say it was just an example of the kind of thing I could do but not a prescription to do so, yet why that particular example? That particular moment?
I think we just get so used to not receiving the lightning bolts that when they do arrive, we don't know what to do with them. God still answers. In Jeremiah 29:13, He says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Why did He answer me this time? I had no agenda. I wasn't asking forgiveness instead of permission. I wasn't making my plans and asking Him to rubber-stamp them after I was committed. I just sought His guidance, His heart, pure and simple.
Is this a guarantee of a clear answer, a lightning bolt every time? Certainly not. Does it mean that you are seeking with somewhat less than your whole heart if you don't get an answer? Also not, but it is much less effective to ask for something with an agenda in mind, then get angry and defensive when the answer is not what I wanted to hear! Simply asking for God to reveal His will (and being willing to hear it and follow it) is the open door to the lightning bolt, in any season.
I'd love to hear about your "lightning bolts"--how has God answered your prayers? How has He (seemingly) not?
God's grace and peace to you.
1 comment:
I have to admit this topic is always one that tends to both facinate me and bother me at the same time. Facinating because the term is one many Christians have used to describe answers to specific prayer requests and I always tend to wonder :"Wow what was THAT like?"
It is also bothersome because I tend to ask that question with envy as much awe. I confess I tend to be reactionary first when something seems to not be going according to plan, at least when it is something I feel completely and immediately responsible for.
Right at the moment there are several requests I would love a blunt direct black and white answer to , but for some reason God is letting things simmer a bit so that I can maybe hear His voice better. Lately I can tell you I thought I had a "lightening Bolt" revelation, only to find out very quickly that it was not from Him but rather the enemy. The reason I assumed that it was first from HIM was that it was a very sensitive maybe even sacrificial
type of action I thought I needed to encourage of myself and those who I was helping in a specific ministry. After taking a day to sleep on it and then question my true motives for the action suggested, I realized that I wasn't truly being obedient to God's wisdom but rather taking a random thought and attributing it to God without the proper testing and discernment.
Which is why I really don't know if I have had a true lightning bolt moment per say but maybe more like a "rainy season" where there are breaks of clarity in between.
I think for me the reaction time is just that "reactionary time" I need time to assess what is really being communicated in that moment and compare it with what I have known to be true to His Word. Not that God won't use such a moment with me in the future , its just that my nature is to second guess anything that is sudden knowledge out of the blue. How much time that assessment takes varies according to the urgency of the dilema. Usually I am Wrong first and then after being humbled I tend to step out in faith and obedience. It can seem supernatural when I am all set to do things as planned and then feel a new direction is needed or a new need is presented - since it goes against my human nature, then "OH maybe this is the HOLY SPIRIT ?" . Well, that's just it.
That becomes a Formula way of thinking. Lightning Bolts by their nature are RANDOM. So is the way God reveals HIS Ultimate plan at times. Not to be a cosmic tease but to remind us that its not about us having a set way of getting the answers WE desire but seeking out His will first and then accepting the answers He then reveals in accordance with His Soveign wisdom and timing.
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