A parable for Christian dating
You’ll probably be very familiar with this story (parable)– but read it in the context of Christian dating and finding your soulmate and you may be surprised at what it teaches you.
A storm descends on a small town, and the downpour soon turns into a flood. As the waters rise, the local preacher kneels in prayer on the church porch, surrounded by water. By and by, one of the townsfolk comes up the street in a canoe.
“Better get in, Preacher. The waters are rising fast.”
“No,” says the preacher. “I have faith in the Lord. He will save me.”
Still the waters rise. Now the preacher is up on the balcony, wringing his hands in supplication, when another guy zips up in a motorboat.
“Come on, Preacher. We need to get you out of here. The levee’s gonna break any minute.”
Once again, the preacher is unmoved.
“I shall remain. The Lord will see me through.”
After a while the levee breaks, and the flood rushes over the church until only the steeple remains above water. The preacher is up there, clinging to the cross, when a helicopter descends out of the clouds, and a state trooper calls down to him through a megaphone.
“Grab the ladder, Preacher. This is your last chance.”
Once again, the preacher insists the Lord will deliver him.
And, predictably, he drowns.
A pious man, the preacher goes to heaven. After a while he gets an interview with God, and he asks the Almighty, “Lord, I had unwavering faith in you. Why didn’t you deliver me from that flood?”
God shakes his head. “What did you want from me? I sent you two boats and a helicopter!”
FAQ’s on hearing God
Why is it difficult to hear God?
Many of us lead busy lives and it can be hard to a) find time to pray and b) still our minds and thoughts so that we can let God in, and hear what he wants to say to us. But it’s well worth praying and learning how to pray. Practise and get into the habit of it and your relationship with God will deepen. As it does so you’ll be delighted by how you hear him – not necessarily a booming voice from heaven, more a still quiet sense of God leading you.
Why is it difficult to trust what God is saying to me?
Like the man in the parable, we often have very fixed views of how we want God to answer our prayers. This is certainly the case in dating where we may have a fixed view of the type of person God is going to bring into our lives. If we start from the position of thinking we know the answer that God will give us, it makes it very hard to hear what God is actually saying. What God is actually saying may well be very different what what we want him to say. If this is the case for you, then you might find it hard to trust Him. If that’s the case go back to scripture and remind yourself that God only has good things in store for you, and that He is 100% trustworthy. Then come back to prayer and be open to hearing his voice without any presuppositions.