Burst Into Flames: A Parable

by Richard McInteer

That evening, after having a frozen dinner and doing some bills, Blake wondered what to do with the next few hours. He considered going to the library or book store to get something new to read, but then his phone rang.

  His Caller ID showed that it was Bob, Elaine's dad. Since Elaine's death, Blake had grown closer to his father-in-law. Blake found that he was the only person that really knew Elaine and missed him nearly as much as he did. He suspected that Elaine's mom, Pat, might also fit that criteria, but Blake had never been able to talk to her like he could with Bob. As he answered the call, it crossed his mind that Bob might just find that same comfort talking to Blake, as Blake did talking to him.

  “Hey, Bob, what's happening?” said Blake.

  “Not much, how are things with you?”

  Blake said, “OK, I guess. Work is alright. Home is passable.”

  “Your words say it is OK, but your voice makes it sound like you have something bothering you. What's up?” asked Bob.

  “Well, you know that I have been trying much harder to seek the Lord.” replied Blake. “While I have seen some fruit from my new focus, it still seems lacking somehow. It is almost as if I am slipping back away from where I want to be.” He paused for a moment, but Bob was silent, waiting for Blake to elaborate, so he continued, “When I think of what Elaine had, when I read my Bible, I know that there is more. I just don't know how to go to the next step. What am I missing? Is something wrong with me?”

  Bob said, “The truth of the matter is that God loves you more than you could imagine and wants nothing more than to have a deep relationship with you. Having a deep relationship with the Lord is at odds with our natural human state, so we are stuck always fighting between competing interests. There is always a conflict between 'self' and the ideas of this world against real surrender to the will of God. This is every person's struggle. So, what are your specific issues?”

  Blake spoke softly, “I pray and sometimes I feel like God is listening, but I don't feel like it is...well...intimate. I read about God's power working in people's lives, but I don't see that in my life. Maybe it is just my loneliness from missing Elaine bleeding over into my spiritual life, but the idea of God as my friend doesn't reflect how I see my reality. I want so much for God to give me purpose and fulfillment, I want Him to heal me of how much it hurts when I think about Elaine.”

  “OK, that's a lot of issues, alright.” said Bob. “Let me ask you this, is your God bigger that the God you believed in a couple of months ago?”

  “Well, yes, absolutely.”

  “And, do you see changes in your life that are a result of your new faith?”

  Blake answered, “Yes, I think so, especially at work, but I also see changes just because of my mourning and I'm not always sure which is which. I also see myself doing things that I don't think please God and they aren't going away.”

  Bob responded, “That is all perfectly normal. While it would be nice if God would just wave his magic wand over us and make us perfect, the reality is that we will never be perfected until we get to heaven. So, how is your prayer life? What do you pray, how much do you pray?”

  “Prayer is tough,” said Blake, “Prayer always seemed to come so easy for Elaine, but it is really a struggle for me. Almost every morning, before work, I sit down and read some Bible, then I spend a few minutes praying for people I know, like you and Beth, and various situations. I also pray for myself, mostly that I'll grow and become more Christ-like.”

  “And what does God say to you?”

  “What?” Blake said in astonishment.

  “When you pray and visit Him in his word, what is God saying?”

  Blake was more than a little confused, but he was beginning to worry about his father-in-law. He said, “I don't hear God saying anything, should I?”

  Bob answered, “Our God is really amazing in a multitude of ways, but one that is really hard to grasp is that He is a personal God. You know that he loves you, but it is easy to think that He loves all people as a group. However, the truth is that He loves you, Blake, as an individual. He knows you, inside and out, and He loves you in spite of all the junk He might see there. He hears your prayers. He knows your needs, your weaknesses, your fears. He knows what you are capable of, even if you don't. He wants the very best for you and He even knows what that is, even better than you do.

  “So many people have come to see prayer as a time to talk at God, giving Him requests and complaints. Prayer in the Bible does include that, but was also so much more. We are supposed to have a real relationship with the Living God. A real relationship can't be built on one-way communication. We need to talk, to converse, with God. Our prayer must be based on both speaking and listening, otherwise we might as well just carve our self a wooden idol to talk to. Unlike any wooden idol, God want to be active in the details of our life.”

  Bob continued, “He created each one of us to fulfill a specific purpose, a divine purpose. In order to fulfill this purpose, He has work to do in our lives. He wants to mold and shape us, to form and empower us. He does this so that when we meet this purpose, we are not doing it under our own power or with human limitations. He wants us to face His ordained challenges as His representative, not just doing things as we imagine He might want, but serving as His hands, feet and mouth.

  “While the Bible is an amazing instrument, many people seem to have forgotten what it says and demonstrates: God speaks directly to His people. He speaks to His people to guide them, lead them, teach them, and most importantly to direct them in fulfilling His purpose on the earth. For a Christian to be complete, He must seek what God wants with him both through the written word and each individual's personal word.”

  “You're really serious about this, aren't you?” asked Blake.

  “Absolutely, I am. God gave us the Holy Spirit, living inside us, so He could speak to us and guide us. The Holy Spirit is our personal phone that connects us to the Lord. It allows us to speak to Him and allows Him to speak to us. We cannot be the faithful servant that God wants us to be without being receptive to his voice. To do what He wants, we have to hear what it is that He wants”

  Bob continued, “It is like this: When Paul prayed for the people of Colossae he prayed: ‘For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven't stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.’31 Paul knew that for these people to be following God's plan for their lives, they had to know what God wanted.”

  Blake asked, “Just what are you talking about here, is this like God calls me once to a lifetime ministry or is this a question of turn left or right at the traffic light?”

  Bob laughed softly and said, “Perhaps a little of both. God speaks when He wants to speak. We have to be constantly attuned to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Our lives are full of consequential decisions, but many of them seem so unimportant at the time. A choice of a route for the morning commute could lead to or avoid an accident. A choice to stop off at the store could place you in the presence of an acquaintance in desperate need. Even the choice of clothing for the day could influence a chance meeting. God sees a much bigger picture than we do. It is odd, but our perceptions of which decisions are 'important' are usually wrong. This means that we have to always be listening.”

  “If we are going to lead the life we are called to, it can't just be seeking His will on what we think are the big decisions, we must live in submission to the Spirit inside us. He gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us. Having a guide does us no good if we ignore Him.”

  “I'm not sure I have ever heard God speak.” said Blake.

  Bob answered, “You may have without knowing it. He has probably spoken to you many times, but you missed it. You see, the promptings of the Holy Spirit can be so easy to i
gnore. Trying to hear that 'still, small voice'32, the Bible talks about, is challenging, even if we weren't living in a world that was so loud. Many people aren't even good at listening with their ears, and listening to that voice in their heart provides a whole new challenge. Then, in spite of what the Bible says, having God talk to you is considered a symptom of mental illness in this world. The combination of listening to God being difficult and it being socially misunderstood, results in a situation in which people aren't even sure they want to hear from God.”

  “I'll agree that this isn't easy, or even obvious, that this is something we need to do.” said Blake.

  “Somehow, the church has largely forgotten this significant function of the Holy Spirit, but remember Jesus said that the only people that will enter heaven are those that do the will of God. How can anybody do the will of God, unless they hear what His will is for them? What is the value of a servant that doesn't hear the instructions of the Master?”

  Blake asked, “Bob, there are a ton of Christians out there that never hear the voice of God. Are you saying that none of them are being obedient to God even if they are trying hard to follow the Bible?”

  “Yes,” answered Bob, “that is what I am saying. Hearing those promptings of the Holy Spirit are absolutely essential for a life in Christ. Without hearing His voice, it is impossible to be obedient. Without hearing from the Lord we cannot be leading the life that He desires for us, we cannot do the will of God without knowing what that will is. Without listening to the Lord, how can we ever hope to enter heaven?”

  Blake asked, “You even think that a person's salvation may hinge on whether he hears God speak?”

  Bob said, “So many people have come to believe in a generic God that just deals with everybody the same, but the God of the Bible is a personal God. He created us as individuals, He loves us as individuals, He helps us as individuals AND he expects us to serve Him as individuals. To serve Him as He wants me to serve him, I have to listen to Him and know what He wants me to do.”

  “Bob, I hear what you are saying about how essential it is to hear and be obedient to God and that makes some sense in regard to the mature Christian, but what about the new Christian? Is the newly saved Christian out of God’s will because he isn’t following some plan from God?”

  Bob replied, “Oh, but they ARE doing exactly what God wants! The typical new Christian needs time to get used to their new persona. They need time to grow and expand. In most cases God will give them that opportunity. The new Christian experiences a huge thrill that comes about both because they have experienced God for the first time and because it feels really good to be in the middle of God’s will. The sad thing is that many Christians never grow beyond that point, they don’t stay will God’s will. It is like the Lord says, ‘I am so glad you decided to join me, we can sit for a little while and get to know one another,’ then later when He says, ‘OK, now walk with Me, we have work to do,’ it is like the new Christian says, ‘I have so liked it here, I think I’ll stay longer.’”

  “So you mean to say that somebody can be obediently serving God while not doing anything?” said Blake.

  “There are typically periods, not just as a new Christian, but throughout a Christian’s life that God gives him a chance to get renewed, restored and prepared for the next task. Remember, this is the same God that established the Sabbath, so His people would have a chance to rest. But, even those periods of rest are an act of obedience. For a Christian to be a good servant of God, he must listen and obey.

  “He is very serious about this. God says, ‘You must follow the LORD your God and fear Him. You must keep His commands and listen to His voice; you must worship Him and remain faithful to Him.’33 He also says, ‘Pay attention to Me, My people, and listen to Me, My nation; for instruction will come from Me, and My justice for a light to the nations. I will bring it about quickly.’34 God wants us to be His: listening and thereby able to serve Him.

  “Listening or not listening to our personal word of the Lord is a matter of faith. If we truly believe that He is the God described in the Bible, then we must expect Him to speak to us the way He has spoken to people throughout biblical history. The God of the Bible does speak, He does lead his servants.

  “You are right though, for many Christians, they have never experienced the direct guidance of God. We have come to believe that God only speaks to a special few. Yet, He has told us that the Holy Spirit would live inside each of us. The Greek word used by John to describe the Holy Spirit's role in our life is 'parakletos', which means 'one that is called alongside to help, counsel, or protect'. Scripture demonstrates how He helps, counsels and protects through communicating with His people.”

  Blake asked, “So, if God is so intent on speaking to His people, why are so few hearing Him?”

  “I guess there are several reasons,” said Bob, “the first and most obvious reason would be a lack of true faith in the God of the Bible. To me, this is a truly scary reason for failure to hear and obey God. It is considered 'convenient' and 'comfortable' to believe in a little, bitty God. Folks like having a little God that they can pull out on Sunday morning or when there is a crisis. They love having their God safely put away, so that He doesn't interfere with all the rest of their life, but that isn't the real God.”

  “The real God is one who lives and works intimately in the lives of His people. His people are those that submit to Him the control over their lives. The only real relationship between a human and the God of all creation is one in which He works as God and King over the human's life, the way the relationship is described in the Bible. Having this sort of relationship requires the faith to accept Him as who He really is, not trying to squeeze Him down into a more convenient form.

  “If our faith-image of God doesn't allow for a God that leads and directs our life, then we won't hear from Him. There are simply too many distractions in this world, so we simply ignore the subtle voice of the Lord.”

  Blake asked, “Is the voice of God always so small and ignorable? It would seem like there are times that He would be loud and obvious.”

  “You are quite right.” said Bob, “He does have a way of getting our attention that He uses on occasion. Just ask Saul of Tarsus or Jonah, because they could tell you about how effective God can be at getting a person's attention. However, God does not usually use extreme measures to gain somebody's attention. For most people, if their image of God doesn't include Him directing their life, God doesn't usually intercede with an obvious miracle. He is more likely to just wait on them to wise up.”

  Bob continued, “To hear God's guidance for our life, we must have the real faith to accept that He wants and deserves to be the leader over our life.”

  “Then, another slightly-related reason not to hear from God, is when people expect God to speak on their terms only. Now, of course, God has the perfect purposes and plans. Our ideas and plans can never get close to the perfection of His. Still some folks think that God will serve as a genie to help them implement their plans. These people are missing the point of serving God.”

  Blake said, “How's that?”

  Bob explained, “A Christian that suddenly starts seeking 'the will of God' when they are preparing to make a big purchase or decision, doesn't understand what 'the will of God' means. In the Bible, He describes our conformance to God's plan as, 'He has told you men what is good and what the Lord requires of you:..to walk humbly with your God.'35 If we will be found to have done the will of our Father in heaven, then we need to walk through our life alongside our God. We are not called to drag Him around as we follow our plan, because after all, He is God. Instead, we need to walk, going where our Master goes, as His faithful servant.”

  “God wants the entirety of our life. Our life goal should be to serve Him. Christianity is not about doing whatever I want, with God's help. Instead Christianity is about living the life He wants, with God doing the work. We must rema
in open to hearing God's guidance at all times and under all circumstances. God isn't good at being convenient to us. He is the mighty ruler of the universe. When He has instructions for us, we need to be listening and available.”

  Bob went on, “Another reason that people don't hear God is that they don't know how to listen for Him.”

  Blake said, “I have to admit, I don't have a clue how to listen for God's voice. I don't guess that it is an audible voice I hear with my ears, is it?”

  “He certainly can speak that way,” answered Bob, “because I have read about it and heard about it, but I haven't experienced it personally. All the times I have heard from God, I have heard it from inside.”

  “I think that's good,” said Blake, “I think that would be a little spooky.”

  Bob laughed, “That might be true. But for me, God expects me to have to have to listen hard to hear him and face it, we aren't even very good at listening with our ears. When it comes to hearing the whispers of the Holy Spirit, we are at a real disadvantage. Among all the noise of the world, we get really good at 'tuning out' all the extraneous noise. We hear only what we want to focus on, and ignore the rest. People can live right next to railroad tracks and after a period of time, they don't hardly hear the noisy train coming by.

  “To listen to God requires an entirely different sort of listening that doesn't even use our ears. This sort of listening is extremely foreign to most people. It can be really difficult, because it is so foreign, but it is a skill that can be sharpened by practice. I don't really think that listening to God can be taught. It is an action that must be born out of faith. We must believe that God will speak. Furthermore, we must be willing to trust what we hear, even though there may be many times when we aren't positive that it was God that we heard.

  “The experience of hearing God or hearing the promptings of the Holy Spirit can sound like very different experiences from person-to-person. Our God is a very personal God. I do not believe that He approaches me the same way He approaches you. Consequently, our personal God experiences may sound very different, but since He created each of us different from one another and since He can do all things, these different experiences shouldn't come as a surprise.

  “When I listen for the word of God, I try to quiet my mind and listen to the One that isn't me, but exists inside me. This isn't a process that can be explained. For me, the process of learning to listen to God was a matter of trial, error and practice.”

  Blake asked, “How can you practice listening to God? The picture that jumps into my mind is to sit quietly while you have somebody pretend to be God, by speaking in a soft, soft whisper.”

  Bob laughed, “I'm not sure that would be much help, because listening to God doesn't involve your ears. Here's something that did help me: as a part of my routine time with the Lord, I would ask the Lord, 'What would You like me to read today?' Then, I would silence my mind and wait until a Scripture came to me. Whatever Scripture came to me, I would read it seeking what the Lord might be trying to communicate to me.”

  “I could not guess how many times I have done this. More often than not, I do not find a message in the book, chapter or verse that came into my head, but there are also many times when God spoke through the Scripture. In this process, by trial and error, and with little risk, I have become better at hearing the voice of God.”

  Bob said, “Which leads me to another reason that people don't hear from God, when they do hear, they promptly deny that the voice was God's. You see, there is always some risk in inaccuracies in hearing God. There is also a fear that we will imagine God told us to do something and that the actions will not be God's plan. Since it is vitally important that we listen to and obey God, we mustn't let that fear stop us from listening. God has provided a way in which we can determine the true word of God and not be deceived.

  “You see, there have been people that have become convinced that they have heard God tell them to do bad things. Remember, God is always going to be true to Himself and He can't ever tell you to do anything contrary to the Bible. Jesus told us how we can know what voices are His, as he describes Himself as a shepherd: 'He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don't recognize the voice of strangers.'36 Jesus assumes that all those that are 'His' will recognize His voice. Recognizing any voice requires hearing it many times. The voice of Jesus is no exception. We must hear it repeatedly in order to learn how to recognize and obey it. Otherwise we are subject to being deceived.

  “The history of the world and the Bible both contain the stories of individuals that believed they were doing the 'will of God', but they were deceived. Consider the actions of the Pharisees in persecuting the church. I am sure they had complete faith in their actions being consistent with the will of God. It is now obvious that they did not hear the voice of God telling them to do this.”

  Blake broke in, “I have certainly heard of people doing some nutty or even evil things and claiming they we doing the 'will of God'. I sure wouldn't want to wind up in that position.”

  “Nor would I,” said Bob, “but, we can also find ourselves living a life that is outside of the will of God unless we are continuously defending ourselves against deception and seeking God's voice leading us into the life He wants us to lead. We need to understand His character through reading His Bible and learn to recognize His voice. This will allow us to know when it is Him speaking and to disregard any other voice.”

  Blake was curious, “So, what other voice might we hear?”

  Bob answered, “The most obvious would be 'self' speaking what it wants. I once had a church member who came to me and said that he believed it was the will of God that he divorce his wife and get with this girl in his office. That obviously wasn't God telling him to do that. I think that what he wanted became dominant over his desire to hear what God wanted, so he somehow justified this desire. In addition, I believe in the Satan described in the Bible; the scripture says he 'is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour’37 and that 'he is a liar and the father of liars.'38 Like God, I believe he has plans for us, but they are designed to keep us weak and outside of the kingdom of God.”

  Blake said, “I can just imagine being deceived into doing something wrong, thinking you were doing it for God. That would make the whole idea of listening to God or even just being a Christian seem foolish to all the onlookers. I can see where Satan would really benefit from that.”

  “Of course he would,” said Bob. “The last thing Satan wants is to have people carrying out God's will, because that is far too powerful. When a person works hand-in-hand with the Lord, incredible things can happen for the kingdom. He is much happier if people just keep following their plans and interests, because there is no power in that.”

  “So anyway,” Bob went on, “that is mostly why folks don't hear the voice of God...Oh wait a minute, I guess I forgot one of the big reasons: they don't want to hear what He has to say. There are many people that just don't want to be obedient to God's plan.

  “It is entirely too easy to find ourselves really comfortable in the life we are already leading. Even if that life isn't perfect, it is known. We know the traps, the threats and the pitfalls of our current life. We don't want anybody telling us what to do. We don't want to do something where we might fail miserably. We don't want to enter into the unknown. These all combine to make the idea of God speaking to us about our life rather threatening.”

  Blake said, “I can relate to that. I get scared about the idea of God sending me off on some unfamiliar track.”

  “I understand,” said Bob, “the hardest part of listening to God is to trust Him with what we hear. When God gives us an instruction, we suddenly have a million reasons not to be obedient to the vo
ice. We ask questions like: What if that was my imagination and the voice wasn't God at all? How can I possibly do this? What if I make a fool of myself? How can I explain this to my friends? I'm not really strong enough, important enough, brave enough, outgoing enough, or whatever. Can't He send somebody else? What if I fail? What if people think I'm crazy?”

  Blake said, “Or how about, 'What if I am crazy?'”

  Bob laughed, then got serious, “You know, it all comes down to our faith. Does our faith allow us to fully trust Him? Trusting God isn't easy, even though we know that He knows everything and we only know a little, He has unlimited power and perfect wisdom. God even knows the future. With all that, we still insist that we know best. Even with Him, as the Almighty, we still fear that we might fail in His plan.”

  “We have to remember that the 70 year-old woman in a dilapidated apartment that allows God to work through her is much more powerful than the young, rich, up-and-coming politician using all his resources. God working toward His plan is God, the Almighty, working. There is no force on earth that is more powerful. When He allows His people to be a part of His plan, He provides all they need to be successful.

  “Any person who is doing the will of God is not doing it under His or Her own limited power, they are operating under God's power, which is without limits. Through a willing instrument, God will accomplish what He wants to accomplish, even if the Christian He works through doesn't know what that goal is. Failure is not an option when God is running the show.”

  “While nobody ever promised that faithfully serving God would be comfortable, it is our responsibility and our joy. While Paul described the tough things he had to endure, he was also one of the most prolific writers on the subject of rejoicing. Being in the middle of God's will is what we are here for.”

  Blake said, “Maybe there is joy when you get there, but the idea of turning God loose with my life to do whatever He wants is a bit scary. As I remember, when He told Moses to go back to Egypt, He was sending Moses right back into what He had been running away from for all those years.”

  Bob said, “You are right. Sometimes, our first response to an instruction from God is going to be fear. It is necessary for us to focus on who He is and how He takes care of His people. Fear must be replaced by faith in Him. He really wants a right-relationship with us. In Psalms it says, 'For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care. Today, if you hear His voice: Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah...'39”

  Bob continued, “Even though trusting God is something that grows and develops over a lifetime, you can't really be God's until you trust Him enough to let him be God in your life.”

  Blake said, “You make that sound easy, but I'm not sure it is.”

  “I wish it was,” said Bob, “On the one hand , it is extremely easy, because God does all the work, the tough part is letting Him do it. It is so easy to tell God, 'I give you my life', but to have a ton of disclaimers, exceptions and caveats in the fine print. Often, by the time reality hits, we haven't offered Him anything, our life is still in our own control.”

  Blake said, “Hmmm, I think I might have done that. I give Him control Sunday and take it back on Monday. Well, this has given me plenty to think about and work on.”

  Bob said apologetically, “I really didn't mean to preach a sermon, I just get excited. You know, I am really proud of the spiritual growth that I have seen in you.”

  Blake answered, “I'm not sure that my progress has been worthy of any praise.” At that point, Blake was thinking of a very private struggle area, Becky.

  “By the way,” Blake said, “do you remember the tall, thin nurse with the short brown hair that worked the day-shift in the ICU, her name was Becky.”

  “Sure, she was a really good nurse, it seems like she gave us a lot of support.” said Bob.

  “I ran into her the other day at Wal-Mart.”

  Bob asked, “So, how is she doing?”

  “Overall, very good, I guess.” Blake said, “She is struggling a little under the stress of her job. You know, I never really thought about it, but every day there are people in the ICU going through what we went through. They sit up there with their loved one, just teetering on the edge between life and death. While some of the patients get better; as we saw, some do not. Becky gets really close to the patients and their families, especially when they are up there for a long time like we were. That takes a toll on her.”

  What Blake didn't tell his father-in-law, was that when Blake had seen Becky, she had catalyzed all of the pent up physical tension from not being with a woman for months. When he started talking to her, his mind had gone crazy thinking about her curves, her smile, her eyes and her curves again. At the store, she had been wearing much less than she ever wore in the ICU. Her manner had been so friendly, he had been debating whether she was actually being flirtatious or if it was just his imagination. He still wasn't exactly sure how he came away from the conversation with her phone number.

  While he was trying to be a good Christian, obedient to God, Becky kept popping up in his mind, day and night. He was disgusted with the nature of his thoughts and fantasies about her. The dreams were the worst. He felt like his mind was being unfaithful to Elaine. He felt like a failure, with a righteousness was so shallow, that one nice looking girl that talks to him makes everything else go out the window.