Love Listens

I am overwhelmed with the awareness of the love of God for people. Today in my office sat a tall man, in his mid thirties, having a broken heart and a rebellious attitude. He has lost more money, mostly thru his own foolishness and the corruptness of others, many of whom are church goers, than most people will ever earn. He had some land to sell. Katharine and I listened to his story.

He was foolish with his inheritance, and prideful. He bought everything he could, and gave away much. But his heart, angry and yet hungry, was still wanting to know the God of his creation.

As we talked and he bragged about his rebellion, his encounters with the sherriff and his in-laws, he seemed to want us to say he was an outlaw. But, we didn't. Every now and then we would talk about the reality of the life of God and the person of God. His eyes would redden and get misty. He bragged on his sufferings as though that would earn him a place with God, but we didn't let that pass. There is only one who has suffered to earn us that place, and it was a free gift to him from God alone.

Then, we told him he could hear God. He got a startled expression... is that true? Why hadn't he ever heard him before? Because of what we have learned, it was now easier to answer. He had heard him, but he wasn't listening for God. So we told him a little of how to be honest with God, and how to listen.

He left our office to go back about his business, but I expect to hear that something changed.
He came from no where, stayed a long time, and we kept seeing that God wanted to keep talking to him, wooing him, paying attention to him. We should have been doing other things, but the awareness that God loved him constrained us. I would not exchange what happens in our little office for all the church services in town.