I have decided that I shall also take a sabbatical from this weekly e-column. I have been writing this column and its predecessors for more than 20 years now, not every week, but most weeks. It makes sense that a serious sabbatical should include my ceasing from this regular responsibility.
One of the lessons I learnt from my time at Regent from the late Dr Klaus Bockmuehl was that listening must precede speaking. He pointed us to Isaiah 50:4,
The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. (NIV)
The Lord wants to instruct my tongue so that I will know the Word that can sustain the weary. That is why I must first allow Him to awaken my ear so that can be instructed by Him. This is my desire — in all my speaking and writing — that I may give a word to sustain His people. I am not just passing on content. I so much want to see what I communicate used by the Lord to touch lives. That means I must first listen to Him before I speak/write.
I have been trying to do that, but as Ruth Haley Barton reminds us, this is often done by snatching pockets of time here and there.
Truth is, we are not always generous with ourselves where God is concerned. Many of us have done well to incorporate regular times of solitude and silence into the rhythm of our ordinary lives, which means we have gotten pretty good at giving God twenty minutes here and half an hour there and there's no question we are better for it!
But many of us are longing for more . . . (1)
I think reaching the age of 70 is a good time to stop to listen afresh, especially in a time of so much change and tragedy. Lord willing, if I am still given time to minister in the years ahead, I will need to do it with a freshly instructed ear.
So, no more ecommentaries from me for now. The column will continue with contributions from members of the Graceworks team, together with our community of authors and friends. I suspect the variety of voices will be refreshing and give new insight on all manner of issues!
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(1) Invitation to Retreat, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2018), 5.