Listening out for God

How we listen for God shapes how we live our lives. This is reflected not just in how we pray but what grabs our attention. This is seen in this weekends readings which deal with both the words of prophecy and our own weaknesses.  The idea of prophecy  can sometimes be misinterpreted as though it predicts events in the future over which we have no control. There can he a sense of fatalism which can poison the soul and cause people to become passively fearful of an unexpected future. People can become disengaged and sceptical that there lives count when confronted by the callousness of the world.
Yet in the midst of all these uncertainties we are called to be open to how God is at work. This is not just in focussing on our own weaknesses but rather on how God's grace is present in ordinary and familiar events of our lives. This allows us to discover how God meets us as the centre of how we are called to live. By seeking God in the everyday we start to see what brings life and what draws us into an everyday faith. Thus prophecy helps us to see how God is not about predicting the future but rather engaging us with the present. To live in a way which is shaped by God and which engenders hope in the way we are called to be in our present age.