Insight

“Speak, for your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:10, ESV).

I was at the lake with some of my oncology fellows whom I had invited for a time of fellowship. A number of them were excited about tubing behind my boat. We got all geared up and were leaving the dock when, because of group carelessness, we tangled the towrope in the propeller and the boat engine died. After unwrapping the prop, no matter how many times I turned the key, I could not restart the boat. Finally we gave up and I tugged the boat back to the dock and put it up.
About an hour later, I was headed back to the boat house and I prayed, “Dear God, please let the boat start so that these fellows may enjoy the afternoon.”
When I reached the boat, I climbed in, held my breath and placed the key in the ignition. I also happened to look over at the gearshift and noted that it was out of neutral. I pulled it back into neutral and the boat started immediately. 

It’s funny how God’s Spirit speaks. I have no doubt that God answered my boat prayer by providing insight into my own stupidity.
For some of us, that happens a lot.
God’s Spirit may also speak to us with profound sweetness, like the time my wife was ill and I was struggling to remain on the mission field. God’s angel visibly smiled at me and spoke softly, “Take her home.”
God’s Spirit may shout through the words of a Bible teacher, like Ora Lee Love as she spoke Bonhoeffer’s words to me, “When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come to die.”
He may rise up from the Scripture during a morning devotional.
He may catch us in His arms when the world has let us fall.
He may raise us up to glory as we worship with others.
He may press us with unyielding weight when we seek to run our own way.
God’s Spirit is alive and active, and we should strive to seek Him more, even if it is to start a boat for an afternoon of fellowship; for within that fellowship, He may be redeeming the world.

Dear God,
Let me seek you more in all circumstances.
Amen