Can you hear God's voice in the storm?

Good News Reflection
Friday of the 26th Week of Ordinary Time
October 1, 2010

Today's Readings:
Gal 3:7-14
Ps 111:1b-6
Luke 11:15-26
http://www.usccb.org/nab/100110.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_10_01.mp3

Can you hear God's voice in the storm?

In today's first reading, we hear God speaking to Job "out of the storm." Think of a storm that's raging in your life right now. Have you been able to hear Gods voice in it? Today's scriptures ARE that voice. What is he saying to you?

He told Job, "What are you worried about? I AM still in charge of your life." Job had been thinking that God was letting things get out of control. We often feel that way, too, don't we? We say by our actions and by our words: "God, You're late! This problem should be fixed by now. I'd better explain to You what You should do, so that we can get this finished in a more timely manner."

And God replies, "Tell me, if you know all: Which is the way to the dwelling place of light, and where is the abode of darkness? Do you really know how to obtain good instead of bad?" And then God gets a little sarcastic: "Oh yeah, of course you do – you were born before I created light and dark, you're so old!"

Job, humbled by the reminder of his inadequacies compared to the greatness of God, speaks for all of us as he says, "All right, I'll shut up! I'll even put my hand over my mouth ... oops, I spoke again. I won't do that again. Oops, I just did."

(You didn't know there was humor in that book of the Bible, did you?!)

To hear God speak in the storm, we have to repent of our prideful assumption that we know the right way to end our troubles. We must acknowledge that God truly is in charge, even if it doesn't seem so, and that his timing is always perfect, even when we think he's late.

Today's resposorial psalm reminds us that God can be trusted because of one BIG reason: He knows us better than we know ourselves. Therefore, his guidance and his timing are much better than our own. We can be certain that he cares about us, because he formed our innermost being (our souls) and our bodies (which he knit in our mother's wombs). He loved us even before we were born. He made us wonderfully.

Did you hear that? He made YOU to be one of his wonderful works. Do you think he'd ruin one of his masterpieces?

Today's Gospel reading is God's voice in the storm saying, "Don't forget how I've helped you before! Of course I'll help you again." If we look only at our problems and neglect to spend time recollecting what he's done for us in the past, it's easy to distrust him. This kind of faith is no faith and it leads to destruction, just like what happened to Capernaum.

Capernaum had been an important, busy town when Jesus taught the Good News there. Today, the little towns of Bethlehem and Nazareth continue to thrive, but Capernaum has been lost to the "realm of death." (Click here to see what it looks like today: http://www.wordbytes.org/holyland/images/capern3.jpg. See more by looking at a couple of pages from my Virtual Pilgrimage:http://www.wordbytes.org/holyland/pilgrim055.htm)

God is taking very good care of you! Listen for his voice.

© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
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