Speak, Lord

Devotion by: Jane Cooper

Genesis 17:3-9

Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.’

God said to Abraham, ‘As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.

In these verses from Genesis, Chapter 17, God is confirming to Abram His promise to make many nations from him. Abram is 99 years old, and he and God have had several conversations by this time. God even changes his name to Abraham.

I wouldn’t say that I have long conversations with God, but I have heard Him speak to me. Not with my ears, but in my mind so vividly that I would have sworn I heard someone speak. Once I was instructed to ask a cleaning contractor to hire a recent immigrant. I did not know the immigrant very well, or the contractor at all, because our church (where I was serving as the President of the Trustees) had just hired this cleaning service. But from The Voice in my head, I knew that I was supposed to talk to the contractor about employing this man. What was really interesting was that the contractor was a Christian in the process of starting his own church. His cleaning service was his day job. Moreover, when I spoke to him, he told me that he had heard God’s voice telling him to ask me if I knew of anyone he could hire to help him in his cleaning business. How’s that for being part of God’s plan?

Another time, when I was driving by myself and pulling up to a red light preparing to enter a busy highway, I heard a distinct warning: “Stay back! Stop here!” So, I did not pull up to the stop line. In the next couple of minutes, a large, fully loaded logging truck came roaring down the hill on the highway and could not stop at the light that had just changed. There was a car in front of him and two vehicles in the left lane, so he zoomed through the intersection using the right turn lane and the beginning of my lane, where I would have been waiting for the light. There is no doubt in my mind that I would have been badly injured, if not killed outright, if I had not listened to that voice. Whether it was God’s voice or that of a guardian angel, I do not know, but I’m really glad I paid attention!

PRAYER: Lord, help us to remember that our prayers should not just be us asking You for things. Help us to hear Your voice in our daily living and when we pray. Continue to guide us and teach us to listen to You and not hesitate to do what you tell us. Amen.