“LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble: You will prepare their heart, You will cause Your ear to hear.” (Psalm 10:17)

For quite some time now, I have needed a clear directive from God on something. I wanted His guidance to make a very difficult decision that I have been agonizing over for a very long time. Biblical verses lined up on both sides of the decision. Godly people faced with a similar decision have come down on both sides of this issue. Even principle seemed to be on both sides though pragmatism leaned more on one side. I didn’t know what to do and the decision carries significant, life altering ramifications. Ever been there?

I spent Monday afternoon walking in the woods, praying, but hearing nothing. My wife had ordered a book by Mary Geegh, a missionary to India most of her life, called God Guides, made available from PrayAmerica.org which we received in the mail Wednesday. The focus of the book is what she calls “listening prayer.” The premise being, “When man listens, God speaks; When man obeys, God acts; When God acts, men change.”

I realized that so much of my prayer time was me telling God stuff He already knew and there was very little deliberate effort to silence those things competing for my focus and simply wait in silence to hear from Him. There was no blog yesterday because when I set my heart to wait and listen, I began to hear. He brought to mind a story I had read in God Guides and I heard him say “Go and do likewise.”

That was truly an answer but I needed more so I asked Him to confirm this by telling me which verse that was. I heard a verse and indeed it was so. Because of the magnitude of this decision, I asked Him for another verse that dealt with this issue. Immediately He told me. Knowing what I had to do, I asked Him for one more, just to be double-dog sure. He gave it to me. Even though I had not wanted to make that choice, I obeyed right away… consuming the rest of my morning.

How this will unfold is unknown to me, but after years of struggling with this question, I had my answer. I would be foolish to disobey.