seek out God

Many, many people, especially older ones are woken in the night by pain, grief, the inability to breathe, worries and concerns, noisy neighbours, uncomfortable beds and nightmares. Some live alone. Others have people or children in the home they are caring for who call them in the night. Is it just possible that any of these things could be God attempting to communicate, to give a message either for us or for others? Some have wrestled with these nocturnal disturbances waking them for a considerable time. They may be envious of Samuel having someone to alert him to their meaning or of Jacob that he only had to struggle for one night before he recognised God and was blessed by God.

In verse 1 of the story we heard from Samuel, it states, “The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread” {1Samuel 3:1] indicating that there was a low expectation that God would communicate with them. Was it that God wasn’t speaking or that because of other distractions people could not hear or didn’t know how to recognise something that was “of God”?

Many might think that the word of God is rare in our day and that visions are not widespread. Could it be because we priests and church leaders are not expecting to hear the voice of God that we are slow to recognise when God is communicating with someone in this way?

The two passages from Hebrew Scripture can be comforting to people struggling with who they are and if they matter. They show God in serious mode, taking us seriously also. But God is also full of surprises and may let us think we can hide for a while if that is the game we want to play.

The Epistle reading set for today,[1 Corinthians 6:12-20] begins with the words, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial.” We could say this about hiding from God. We can try to do it, but is it beneficial in the long run? The rest of the passage is about not allowing one thing to dominate our lives because our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit and part of the body of Christ. Do we hide because we like playing games, because we are ashamed, because we don’t know God would like us to reverse the game and the try to find God. As mature Christians, is it our turn to go “Hee” and seek out God?

One thing we can rest assured of from Jacob, Samuel, the writer of the Psalm, Phillip, Nathanael and Paul, is that it will be a life changing, joyful, exciting blessing when we find and let ourselves be found by God.

Rev Julianne Parker

(for full sermon see sermons page)