We watched another movie in class on last night and this one was called The Sunset Limited. An hour and a half movie featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Tommie Lee Jones sitting in the apartment of Jackson after he’d stopped Jones from trying to commit suicide. [Oh, Jones didn’t believe in God.] I will not go into the full movie (you need to watch it) but there was one thing Jackson said that I had to share. He said to Jones, “You don’t have to be virtuous in order to hear God speak, you just need to be quiet!” Listen, many times we mistakenly think we have to be on some sort of spiritual level in order to hear from God. We think it takes speaking in tongue, being able to shout, prophecy or lead intercessory prayer. We think we need to have everything straight and be perfect in our being. But who is perfect, other than God? Yes, we are all called to be virtuous, that’s having high morals, however, if today is the day you happen to lack virtue, God can still speak to you. If today just happens to be a day you don’t feel like being virtuous, God can still speak to you. If you were to make a mistake today, God can still speak to you. You simply need to be quiet long enough to hear Him.
Listen, I get it; there will be some days you will not feel like being morally correct and you are entitled but don’t think you cannot hear from God. Beloved, I was a jacked up, good for nothing, raggedy, mess of a person yet God still spoke to me. I was set in my ways, attitude on ten, could curse with the best of them yet God still spoke. AND I HEARD HIM! It wasn’t because I was morally good, all the time, but it was those days I hushed and listened. Even when I could not understand why God would use me, I shut up and listened. Even when I found myself running from Him, there were nights I had no choice but to listen. God does not speak because you are good but He speaks because of your potential to be. You simply need to be quiet to listen. How will you know it’s God? Well, the bible says in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
Lakisha, the Author 