Bonheoffer spoke of how when seminary students were preaching a sermon he would always sit and listen to the sermon and never critique it while the sermon was taking place.
I have always found some wisdom in this. The sermon is a method by which God is attempting to speak to us through the preacher.
Sometimes the message of course is hopelessly lost if the preacher cannot convey the message of the word of God, but the reality is that God is attempting to speak to us.
When God attempts to speak we should listen. It is interesting that throughout scripture God has a tendency to speak in unusual ways.
He is not a respecter of persons and often does not bring his message to people in any way in which they expect. He may find a tiny shepherd by to kill a great warrior or find someone hopelessly lost in son to convert into his messenger.
Always God is a being who wishes to speak and be heard. He often does so in unusual ways.
Why does God not speak directly? Sometimes it is as if he does not wish to be heard.
The reality is that he wishes to be heard if we wish to listen. He has communicated more than sufficiently and always will communicate with us sufficiently about our lives.
We often do not care to listen. We ask for a clear sign when often the clear sign has already been given many times.
Sometimes we wish and answer the question and the answer is that it is not good for us to know.
We always think that knowledge is good. Knowledge is good in general but for fallen men we often could not make use of it and sometimes it would be of danger to us.
Always God knows better than we do but we cannot see it. He wishes to speak and the question is if we wish to listen.
A Theology Guest Post by me
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