Attentive to God’s Presence
Continuing with Abraham's encounter with the three men in Genesis 18, we read this: "Then one of them said, 'I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.' Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, 'After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?' Then the LORD said to Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh and say, "Will I really have a child, now that I am old?" Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.'" (Genesis 18:10-14)
As it turned out, these were not three men. They were two angels, and one of them was God Himself. He was the one who promised to come back and find Sarah pregnant. And as the chapter goes on, Abraham seems to recognise this, because he has this long conversation with God asking Him not to destroy Sodom - which, of course, only God could do.
Tuning Our Souls to God
God was amongst them! And they almost missed it. But Abraham was attentive to the presence of God. He recognised God's presence in faith.
David Benner wrote a lovely little book called Sacred Companions which is about people helping each other journey with God. One of the chapters deals with what he called "soul attunement" - attuning your soul to the fact of God's closeness. He writes this: "The notion of tuning ourselves to God reminds us that He is constantly communicating with us. His Word, His creation, His Spirit all continually pour out His revelation. Our job is to increase sensitivity to that communication."
And he goes on to talk about how to increase your sensitivity to God - through things like prayer, Scripture reading, meditating on Jesus, remembering that God is paying attention to you... and things like this.
Staying Attuned Despite Distractions
I thought about this, as I read his chapter. Is my life attuned to the presence of God, and the communication of God as He seeks to connect with me?
Again, I think my devices can get in the way of this. Another WhatsApp, another email, another phone call, another silly reel or short video... I find these detune me to the presence of God.
I try to follow as many Christian pages and groups and channels as I can, to try to ensure that the things on my phone are actually attuning me to God and not detuning me from Him.
I think Abraham was attentive to his God. He quickly realised that this was the same God that had been speaking to him in visions and dreams.
Friends, do you live with a deep awareness of the presence of God: In your home? In your garden? In your car? In your office? In the shops? Wherever you are?
Because the truth is HE IS CLOSE! He is very close always! And we can revel in that closeness... if we get attentive.
I want an Abraham-like attentiveness to people's needs, and to God's presence every day of my life. How about you?
