Doing what God asks of us:
With faces set like flint

		Living the Scriptures  with St. Paul University  Catholic Center  Sandra K. Kruse

In Isaiah we hear the voice of the "suffering servant," the messiah who is to come: "The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue that I might speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear; and I have not rebelled, have not turned back."

As disciples of the Lord, we aspire to be like the suffering servant - to be steadfast to speak God's words, to listen to his voice, and to do what he asks without rebelling or turning back. It is a simple prescription and yet we find ourselves too often speaking evil, shutting out God's voice, disobeying, and giving up.

Palm Sunday (March 20, 2005) Is 50:4-7 Ps 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24 Phil 2:6-11 Mt 14--27:66 or 27:11-54

We do this because we do not want our backs beat and our beards plucked; we shield ourselves from the buffets and the spitting, which Isaiah and the Gospel writers tell us Jesus, the suffering servant, endured.

Jesus fundamentally trusted that his Father would "be his help" and not allow him "to be disgraced," and so he set his "face like flint" and took on the very difficult task God asked of him, though fear of it caused him anguish so profound he sweat blood.

Never has the Lord asked me to do or endure anything so difficult, and for what he has asked of me he has always given me his strength, his joy, and the many and varied blessings that come from doing his will. But even though I have experienced this in my life, time and time again, I still, at times, have closed my ear, afraid of what he might ask next.

God asks different things of each of us, and of me, it has seemed for the last 14 years, he has been asking, in the quiet of my heart, a continued openness to new life.

What a beautiful path he has chosen for me! Every child we have is a blessing beyond what my husband and I could have ever imagined.

But even so, I have found myself, from time to time, closing my ear and coming up with my own suggestions for how the Lord might use my life:

Lord, I think we've had sufficient children now and that it would be a great time to move on to writing that great American novel that will glorify you. I think that should come up next in the queue.

But thankfully, the Lord in his mercy does not let me close my ear forever. He reminds me that he "is my help" in whatever is difficult on my path and allows me to experience daily the joy of doing his will, which, in my case, is manifested in the beautiful children he has entrusted to my care.

	Reflection questions • How can I be more attentive to the voice of the Lord? • In what areas of my life do I need to "set my face like flint" in order to be faithful to that which God is asking of me?

Then I am able to trust anew that God's path and timing are perfect, better than any I could dream up on my own, whether it is babies or books or something else entirely, tomorrow or 20 years from now.

Let us ask God to give us courage to listen to his voice and trust him with our lives, so that we will do whatever it is we know in our hearts he is asking, without rebelling, without turning back, and with faces "set like flint."

Sandra Kruse is a St. Paul's alumna, community member, and part of the St. Paul's Institute of Evangelical Catholic Ministry Executive Committee. She and her husband, Tim, have nine children.

St. Paul's Web site is www.stpaulscc.org

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