Time and Place 1

 Time and place are important factors.

Late at night,

lying in bed with our eyes shut, 

waiting on God to speak to us is not such a good idea. 

Maybe we will fall sleep with our last thought being about God which is wonderful, but probably our minds are not in their most alert states, and sleep may well overwhelm us before we have had time to hear what God would say.

Running, walking or exercising are also probably not the best place for these five minutes. Of course God can speak to us whatever our circumstances, and I have had some important times of hearing God's voice while in the midst of doing other things.

The point is our level of concentration.

 When we are physically active doing something, our minds are absorbing and processing huge amounts of external and internal information.

 We are not 'still' and 'stillness' is a key in this time of listening to God.

Yes we can multi task when talking with other humans, and we often do to the detriment of those personal conversations.

Imagine we on the phone with a precious friend, and they are telling us something that is very important in great detail. We listen intently to them, not wishing to miss any of the detail, so we can further communicate deeply about the situation.

I don't want to become flippant in my relationship with God.

He is holy and to be held in great respect, and I want His words to me to be hallowed in my sight.

The world has reduced Him through mockery to someone sidelined and insignificant in the minds of great numbers of people. 

May we not be in that place, but instead be ones who set aside time daily to be 'still' and listen to what God would say to us.

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" Psalm 46:10

Amen. Let it be so.