How does God come to you?
"Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord" -Isaiah 1:18.
How does God come to you? Like a whirlwind, like a bolt of lightning? This is not my experience or the experience of most of the people in the Bible, nor was it the experience of the first disciples (in Luke 5). He comes like a living being with a personality, inviting you to stop and listen.
God did this over and over in the Old Testament. In the New Testament we see God doing the same thing through Jesus, God made flesh. Here is how he called his first disciples: He was teaching a crowd within earshot of the fishermen. First he invites you to listen. Then he asks you to inconvenience yourself for him. He got into Simon Peter's boat and asked that he put out from the shore so he could teach the people from there. (Luke 5:3) Then, once you are willing and a little invested, he asks you to do something that you have probably done a million times before, but he invites you to see different results: He asks Simon to put out his nets, even though he had caught nothing the night before and the fishermen know that it is pointless to cast nets during the heat of the day. (Luke 5:4) Simon agrees just like we agree.. thinking, "well, I've got nothing to lose and this guy has gotten my attention." Then God does a miracle. The nets were filled with so many fish they began to break and they had to call their friends over to haul in the catch that would almost sink the boats. (Luke 5:6) It may be a subtle or amazing for you. In Simon's case, it was anything but subtle. Simon realizes he has seen a miracle and falls at Jesus' feet saying, "go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man!" This is the point where we realize we have come face to face with the divine, and the only posture that is appropriate is humility. So Simon Peter became a disciple, and eventually God would do great things with him. Once you are on the road, God will do great things with you.
God did this over and over in the Old Testament. In the New Testament we see God doing the same thing through Jesus, God made flesh. Here is how he called his first disciples: He was teaching a crowd within earshot of the fishermen. First he invites you to listen. Then he asks you to inconvenience yourself for him. He got into Simon Peter's boat and asked that he put out from the shore so he could teach the people from there. (Luke 5:3) Then, once you are willing and a little invested, he asks you to do something that you have probably done a million times before, but he invites you to see different results: He asks Simon to put out his nets, even though he had caught nothing the night before and the fishermen know that it is pointless to cast nets during the heat of the day. (Luke 5:4) Simon agrees just like we agree.. thinking, "well, I've got nothing to lose and this guy has gotten my attention." Then God does a miracle. The nets were filled with so many fish they began to break and they had to call their friends over to haul in the catch that would almost sink the boats. (Luke 5:6) It may be a subtle or amazing for you. In Simon's case, it was anything but subtle. Simon realizes he has seen a miracle and falls at Jesus' feet saying, "go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man!" This is the point where we realize we have come face to face with the divine, and the only posture that is appropriate is humility. So Simon Peter became a disciple, and eventually God would do great things with him. Once you are on the road, God will do great things with you.
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