Hearing or Following God?

Hi Y'all.  We have a post from our very own Jonathan Gross (the guy with the Jesus hair):

Last week at Charge Stephen Siebert challenged us with the question: is it more difficult to hear God or to follow God?

My answer to the question came quickly: I have more difficulty following God. I can think back to instances in my life where I understood (or strongly suspected) God wanted a certain action out of me. Times when I was to pray for someone, confess a sin, or give up material possessions. Too often I have convinced myself that my friend suffering from a headache didn't actually need my prayers, or that the lady on the other side of the counter would take offense at my offer. Too often I have decided to trust in my own resolve to overcome my weaknesses, instead of trusting the power of God in the presence of my fellow Christian. And too often I have concluded that loosening my grip on worldly goods is a slippery slope that will leave me destitute and unable to “really” help people.

By God's grace I have been able to break that pattern at times. It hasn't always been pretty. I have memories etched into my brain of people refusing my prayers and taking advantage of me financially. Sometimes it has been beautiful, though. Last semester I shared how God brought me healing from addiction through confession. Similar steps of faith in different relationships have brought the most profound senses of peace I have ever felt, and remain some of the treasures available to us on this earth that I most long for.

Those successes, even when outnumbered by the times I ignored God and the times when I didn't hear correctly or when the fruit of the obedience was hidden, give me a great desire to hear God again, because hearing is clearly a precondition for following. What I have been reminded of this week is that whether we choose to follow can also affect our ability to hear in the future. Every time we choose to ignore the voice of God in our lives, our actions reveal that we don't actually want to hear. I think the parable in Luke 19:11–27 offers a sobering perspective on the consequences of wasting graces God gives us. I pray that the Lord would have mercy on us and grace us with more words to follow in our individual and communal walks.