God, is that You

A young man once went to an evening Bible study class. In the course of the meeting, the pastor spoke at length about listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice. The young man could not help but wonder, “Does God still speak to people?”

Now that was an interesting proposition. And when the young man went out with his friends for coffee and snacks after the Study, they discussed the pastor’s message. Some of his friends even shared amazing experiences of how God had guided them at different stages in their lives.

It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home, full of wonder whether God might speak to him. Was it possible? Sitting in his car, he began to pray, “God, if you still speak to people, speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey.” He said this prayer earnestly and repeated it over and over…

As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk.

He stopped his car and said out loud, “God is that You?” No response.

“Weird,” he said, shrugging his shoulders and resumed his journey homewards. Hardly had he driven a few yards than the thought ‘Buy a gallon of milk’ filled his mind once more. This time, the thought was overpowering.

“Okay, God, in case that is You, I will buy the milk.” It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. So the young man stopped his car, purchased a one-gallon can of milk and started off towards home.

As he passed by a street, the seventh in a row of streets, he felt the urge, 'Turn down that street.'
”This is crazy,” he thought, and drove on past the intersection.

But then again, he felt the compelling impulse to turn down Seventh Street.

“Okay, God, I will,” he said aloud, half-jokingly.

At the next intersection, he veered his car, back to Seventh Street.

He drove past several blocks when, suddenly, he felt that he should stop. So the young man pulled his car up to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi-urbanized area of the town. It wasn't the best of neighbourhoods, but it wasn't the worst of them either. The shops were closed, and in most of the houses, the lights had been put out for the day.

Again, he sensed a voice that said, “Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street.” The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked as if the inmates of the house were either out, or were already asleep.

The young man started to open the door of the car, but slumped back in his seat.

”Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad at me, and I will look stupid.” But the feeling to deliver the can of milk would not go away.

”Okay God,” the young man said finally, “If this is You, I will go to that house and hand over this can of milk. If You want me to look like a dingbat, it is Your wish. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something. But if they don't answer right away, I’m outta here.”

He walked across the street and rang the doorbell. He could hear the shuffling of feet within. A man bellowed from inside, “Who is it? What do you want?” Sensing the unfriendliness in the voice, the young man turned around to leave, but the door had opened.

A man was standing there in a rumpled t-shirt and jeans. He looked like he had just got out of bed, and not too happy to have some stranger standing at his doorstep. “What is it?” the man asked testily.

The young man thrust out the can of milk, “Here, I brought this for you.” The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway calling out, “Hey honey, look at this!”

Immediately, a woman came out, carrying the milk and a baby. The little one was crying. The man followed his wife out to where the young man stood. Tears streaming down his face, the man began half-speaking and half-crying, “We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any milk even for our baby. We were just calling out to Him and asking God to show us a way.”

The lady of the house continued, her voice choked with gratitude, “I asked Him to send an angel with some milk. Are you an angel?”

The young man reached into his wallet, pulled out all the money he had with him, and put in the man's hand. Then, he turned and walked back toward his car, tears streaming down his face.

He knew that God still answers prayers. And he knew that obeying God’s voice had the most beautiful results – beyond all imagination.

Sometimes it's the simplest things that God asks us to do. If we pay heed to His call, we can actually hear His voice clearer than ever.

God is always speaking to us. But to listen to Him clearly, we need to shut out the sounds of the world, put our egos aside and make ourselves pure of heart. For, as Bhagavan Baba puts it –

“It is in the depths of silence that the voice of God can be heard.”

One devotee had such an experience of inner-hearing on Akhand Bhajan day in Prasanthi Nilayam a few days ago. This happened on November 9, 2008, mid-morning time. Swami had gone out of the ashram in the car and there were many possible routes for Him to enter His residence. Walking with his baby daughter he was yearning for a darshan of Swami together with his new-born as looking after his little one had not allowed him many opportunities to see Bhagavan Baba.

But, how to catch a glimpse of Swami? He could return via the back gate and move around the ashram; or come through the school children’s entrance; or go straight into the Mandir from the road. At that point of wondering and yearning, he clearly heard the words within “Go to the Shirdi Baba Temple.” This lay near the main road and he felt it was a sign to go to the road there after having darshan of the Shirdi Sai statue. He quickly made the 10 minute journey from the north buildings lawn, trusting that this was a sure sign from His Lord - or maybe His ministering angels!

Arriving at the shrine of Shirdi Baba he made a prayer and then straight away made his way to the road which lay 100 metres away. Just at that very moment Swami came by. He did not even have to wait a minute! He was overjoyed with Bhagavan’s precious darshan, while holding his three weeks old daughter!

This is just one instance of inner guidance by the Lord. There are, of course, many thousands of such prayers which are simultaneously fulfilled, all over the world every day. These touch our hearts, heal our bodies and connect us within to the Omnipresent One.

All we have to do is to fill our hearts with love and keep a prayer always on our lips; His voice will resound within louder than anything else in this world. We can then truly become His angels and our lives will revolve in harmony.