O.C. (4)-- Again. This is crazy.

I really can't believe it. God, are you writing these for me?! I mean honestly, it's almost creeping me out, except it's too wonderful and amazing to be creepy. Everything I've been reading these past couple days has fallen into place, it seems... and of course I am being cautious about it, but I almost can't believe how clearly Your voice is coming through the haze, whether by a sermon (two of them, actually), the daily devotional, Unto Full Stature, or the book of Jeremiah... I'm awed. 

Have You Ever Been Alone with God? (2)

When He was alone... the twelve asked Him about the parable— Mark 4:10

His Solitude with Us: When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new friendship— when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us. Notice Jesus Christ's training of the Twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were confused. His disciples constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly explained things to them, but they didn't understand until after they received the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26). 

As you journey with God, the only thing He intends to be clear is the way He deals with your soul. The sorrows and difficulties in the lives of others will be absolutely confusing to you. We think we understand another person's struggle until God reveals the same shortcomings in our lives. There are vast areas of stubbornness and ignorance the Holy Spirit has to reveal in each of us, but it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now? Or are we more concerned with our own ideas, friendships, and cares for our bodies? Jesus cannot teach us anything until we quit all our intellectual questions and get alone with Him.