We Are The Children

How often do you listen for God to speak you? I think that if you are paying attention, God can speak to us in the most surprising ways, in the most unusual places. The reason I say this is because God spoke to me today on the bus, through a small boy and his mum. Let me explain...

A young boy (around 3 years old) was on the bus with his mum and he was not very happy. He was crying and seemed so upset; all over half a packet of crisps. He wanted them so badly that he was reaching for them and crying when his mum wouldn't give them to him. His mum was trying hard to patiently explain that the crisps had been on the floor; they were dirty and so he couldn't have them. He continued to scream as she told him that she would buy him some more when they got off the bus. This did not appease the little boy; he kept on screaming as the mother explained again and again, as gently as she could and in as many different ways, that she would buy him more when they stopped. The boy seemed to relax for a little while and mum thought she'd got through to him. Just before they got off the bus, however, the little boy commenced his screaming and reaching for the bag of crisps. Again, his mum explained that they had been on the floor and when they got off the bus in a little while she would buy him some more. The boy got off the bus still screaming in his pushchair, his mum still telling him (a little less patiently now, but still kindly) that they would get some more.

So... as this episode unfolded on the bus today I heard God speaking to me through it and I thought I would share the revelation I had:
How often are we just like this child? We see something we want and we 'scream' at God to let us have it. We think that it is something good for us and so we demand that He gives it to us. We get so upset when He doesn't immediately hand it over to us, and we can't understand why He can't just let us have it. It might be somewhere we want to go, a job or career we want, a college or university we want to be accepted to... any number of things. However, while we're busy shouting and screaming at God to 'give it', He is trying hard to patiently explain that we can't have it. Even though it might look good, it's not. It's 'dirty', it's not right for us. He explains that in His time He will give us something even better than what we see right now. Even though we don't know when we'll 'get off the bus' to receive our different thing, it will happen and when we get it we will be happier than we would've been with the second best that we were demanding. It often takes us a long time to stop being upset about the thing we can't have or the thing that we lost, and accept that God is getting us ready to receive something better.

What have you seen recently that you really want? Are you listening out for God's voice? Is He saying 'yes, you can have it' or is He saying 'no, you can't have this one'? If He is saying no, trust His judgement. Believe Him when He says 'when we get off the bus, I will get you something better'. God loves you like a father, He is the ultimate Father. He hears your cries and pleas, but sometimes He refuses us one thing to give us something better. Trust your Abba and wait to receive something amazing.



P.S. The title of this post comes from a song that came on UCB Radio as I started typing this post! The backing singers were a choir of children singing this chorus:
"We are the saints, we are the children,
We've been redeemed, we've been forgiven,
We are the sons and daughters of God."