Are you listening?

It's funny how many different ways God has to tell us things. First, and foremost, He uses His word. In fact, that is the place that any other message you might get must be checked against. But He talks to us in other ways, some of which get through the clutter and our resistance.

There is a FaceBook app called "God wants You to Know". Now I know nothing about the programmer who built it, and if it's like all the quizzes on FB, it's not really an intelligent, thoughtful piece of code. But the last several 'messages' that popped up for me were extremely relevant and timely.

The most recent was:

God wants you to know... ... that it is time to finally forgive yourself.

You've carried the guilt, the shame for long enough. You've kept your wounds open for long enough. The time has to come to let go, to heal. Keep the lessons and let the pain heal. Yes, you know what we are talking about it.

This is one of the things that continues to bother me, especially regarding my marriage, and my kids. It's also a message that I have heard many times before, from my own reading of the bible, from teachers, authors, counsellors. It's something I KNOW is important, vital to my recovery. But really letting it happen is a constant struggle.

One a few days ago was:

God wants you to know... ... that you cannot wait anymore.

The moment has finally come. You have no choice. You have to take that step now. Now. Not tomorrow, not in an hour, - Now! If anyone else is reading this, they would be confused. But not you. You know exactly what we mean. Do it. Now.

This one is also quite interesting to me. More on that later.

This one is from a few days further back:

God wants you to know... ... that it's OK.

Just rest for a moment. It's OK. Yes, things are crazy, yes, the world is going nuts. Yet, deep underneath the stormy waves, there, in the core of your being, there is pure silence, pure love. And ... it's ... just ... OK.

This is the one that got my interest, because of the timing. It popped up at exactly the time when I was really down about my situation. Worry was creeping up, bitterness was rising as well. This appeared in my feed, and it made me stop and think for a moment, and then pray for a moment.

But here is where I need to return to my first comment. Everything needs to be run through the filter of God's word. I'm pretty sure these messages are just coming out randomly. They are worded a bit like horoscopes, in order to make them seem to fit anyone, at anytime. Now horoscopes and other kinds of divination are forbidden, because they are not based on trusting God, but on some kind of magical communication, which may not be with a spirit from God.

So let's look at this message about not waiting any longer. For me, this could mean several things. But it also could mean nothing. The other 2 that I have described here were timely, very closely aligned with my current situation, and express thoughts that are very well represented in Scripture. This other one is less well outlined in scripture, and seems much more ambiguous.

So, is this application just a bit of fun, which seems to fit from time to time, or is it like a horoscope, which seems harmless on the surface, but allows the infiltration of your thoughts by messages from someone other than God. Or is it a mechanism that God is using to nudge people in His direction, without the Pillar of fire and the stone tablets.

I don't know. I do know that 2 out of 3 examples were biblical in their alignment, timely to my situation at the moment, and uplifted my spirit. The other one was ambiguous in every way. It was not specifically contradicted by scripture, but I haven't done an exhaustive search, either.

I think I will revisit this topic soon. There are a lot more ways God has spoken to me that need to be expanded. As far as the FaceBook App goes, I think I will keep it around for awhile.