If we listen to God long enough and close enough, we’re going to hear things we don’t want to hear. What God tells us will make us uncomfortable and call us well beyond ourselves. If God only whispers sweet nothings in our ears, we’re probably only listening to a figment of our imaginations. Here are some examples from the Bible of God telling people what they didn’t want to hear. (Click here to listen to the full sermon this summarizes.)

1. “Don’t do that. Are you going to trust Me or try to figure it out for yourselves?” (Adam and Eve, Gen. 2-3)
2. “Build this thing you don’t know how to build, with resources you don’t have, even though you don’t think you need it.” (Noah, Gen. 6-7)
3. “Go back and do it the right way this time.” (Moses, Ex. 2)
4. “Do what I told you in the weirdest way possible.” (Joshua, Joshua 6)
5. “Do with a lot less resource than prudence dictates.” (Gideon, Judges 7)
6. “Pick the runty one, not the one that seems strongest or best to you.” (Samuel, 1 Sam. 16)
7. “What you did was wrong.” (David, 2 Sam. 12)
8. “Drop what you’re doing and follow me.” (the Twelve, e.g., Matt. 4)
9. “Stop it. Stop persecuting people in the name of religion.” (Paul, Acts 9)
10. “Go pray for and take care of your enemy.” (Ananias, Acts 9)
11. “Set aside your prejudice. Don’t call people unclean when I have made them clean.” (Peter, Acts 10)
12. “Don’t go there. Go here instead.” (Paul, Acts 16)
13. “Don’t give up. I’m with you. It’s going to keep being hard.” (Paul, Acts 23.9-11) 

What is God trying to say to you that you don’t want to hear? How are you going to build space in your life to hear that? What are you going to do when you do you hear?