The Frustrations of Talking with God

In September of 1963, I was sitting in a chapel in the foothills of the Himalayas in a town called Mussoorie, at a school called Vincent Hill School. It was Week of Prayer. Those of you who haven’t gone to an Adventist school probably don’t know about a week of prayer, but every Adventist school has a week of prayer. Elder Hamill was in charge of the week of prayer. He was the Union president from the Pakistan Union. 

He was wrapping up his week of prayer and had an “altar call.” I hate altar calls. It’s something that an introvert dislikes immensely. But it is an opportunity to come forward from your seat to the front and give your heart again to Jesus. I don’t know how many times you have to do this, but altar calls are part of the culture. 

I remember very strongly his altar call message, which was that he was convinced by God that Jesus would come within the next 10 years. Despite my reluctance to go forward, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to go to heaven when Jesus came within the next 10 years. So I went forward and responded to the altar call. That was 53 years ago.

My question is: Was that a message from God? 

This week I got an email from a colleague, a professional friend but not somebody I know particularly well. She was weighing in on a decision we’re working on within my department at the university. She had strong feelings about a decision being made. The decision was a consequential one, but not a moral one. Was that a message from God? Does God care about decisions in the Department of Surgery at Wayne State University? 

A couple of weeks ago, I had a strong conviction that the preambles I’m doing for this class are too long; that I’m taking up too much of the time and not leaving enough time for everyone to talk. Was this a message from God? 

How about you? What emails did you get this week? What phone calls did you receive? What encounters did you have at work, or at the checkout counter at the store? What social media postings did you experience? Is it possible that those messages came from God? Or did you randomly open your Bible and mysteriously and miraculously it fell just to the right passage, the one that you needed? Was that a message from God? 

We’re talking about prophets and teachers and sages and the promise of Jesus that he would send such people to communicate with us at the end of time. We’re looking at how God communicates with humankind, what medium and messages he uses. Last week, we asked the simple question. Have you ever had a communication from God? Has God ever spoken to you, either directly or in dreams? 

Five out of our roughly 18 participants acknowledged that they have been a part of what they considered to be a divine encounter. Five out of 18 is 27%—very close to a 1999 Gallup analysis in which 23% of all Americans said they had heard a voice from God or had seen or received a message from God in a vision a dream. 

All the stories we heard last week from our own class had some similar characteristics. With the exception of Bryan’s story, the encounter in each case was a personal one. All of the encounters were emotional encounters. Strong feelings were elicited and evoked from the encounters. There was no doubt in each person’s mind that the experience was a divine blessing, a divine encounter. No one seemed confused about whether it was from God or not. No vetting seemed necessary. That was to me one of the most remarkable features of these stories: There was no question about the origin of the messages. They were clear, direct, personal, and unambiguous. 

But also, they were infrequent; for many even, they were just a singular experience, not something habitual, repeated, or frequent. Why these messages? Why then in each case? And above all, why not me?! To those of us who, like myself, have never heard God’s voice or experienced a dream or vision, I’d like to ask: Have you ever been involved or have you ever received an emotional experience from God in music? In a sunset? In a sermon? In a song? Have you ever encountered God even in our own class discussions? 

This week, David sent me an article from the John Templeton Foundation. It was entitled The Science of Awe.  It begins:

What can the science of awe teach us about this most mysterious and mystifying emotions? A majestic waterfall, the Taj Mahal, towering redwoods, the Grand Canyon, a tornado, Beethoven’s Symphony Number 9, Monet’s Water Lilies, a fractal, a spiritual experience, a performance by Prince, a child being born, a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., the view of Earth from space — all different experiences that can induce deep feelings of awe.  

Awe is a complex emotion that can be difficult to precisely define. Feelings of awe can be positive or negative — unlike most other emotions — and can arise from a wide range of stimuli. Awe experiences are what psychologists call self-transcendent: they shift our attention away from ourselves, make us feel like we are part of something greater than ourselves, change our perception of time, and even make us more generous toward others. 

The article continues that although it has been explored and debated by philosophers, poets and religious scholars for thousands of years, awe has been largely ignored by psychologists until recently. Now, a growing interest in exploring it as a science has led to a number of fascinating discoveries about its nature. In a landmark 2003 paper, two psychologists presented a conceptual approach to the subject, suggesting that our experiences can be characterized by two phenomena: 1. Perceived vastness and 2. A need for accommodation. 

They noted that there are many varieties of awe. They suggest “reaction to threat, beauty, ability, virtue, and supranational causality” as useful subcategories; but all forms of awe seem to involve these two basic elements. Perceived vastness can come from observing something physically large, like the Grand Canyon, or through an encounter with something or someone vast or profound, such as being in the presence of a person with immense prestige, or being presented with a complex idea like the theory of relativity. The experience invokes a need for accommodation when it violates our normal understanding of the world. When the stimulus violates expectation in this way, it can provoke a modification of the mental constructs that we use to understand the world. The need for cognitive realignment is an essential part of the awe experience. 

This experience of awe has a biblical basis as well. The psalmist writes:

The heavens tell of the glory of God;
And their expanse declares the work of His hands.   

Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.   

There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.   

Their line has gone out into all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world. (Psalms 19:1-4)

It seems God has been using awe from the very beginning to tell us something. But what is the message? What is God trying to say? Is the message personal? Or is the message universal? It has, the psalmist said, gone “to the ends of the earth.” Does God have a different message for Donald as he looks at a field full of wildflowers through his camera lens? Does he have a different message for me as I look upon the beating heart, and for you as you listen to a stirring sermon or a string quartet, or see a flooded sunset, or hear the crashing of the sea against the rocks? 

In the Old Testament, there are nearly 2,000 illustrations of God’s messages—phrases such as “and God spoke to Moses and said…”, “the word of the Lord came to Jonah,” or simply: “God said….” We see an example of this in Jeremiah: 

Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. (Jeremiah 1:9)

Jeremiah claims to speak the specific words that God put into his mouth. Notice how we anthropomorphize God: God reaches with his hand, touches my mouth, and puts words…. What kind of words? Are these words in Hebrew? Are they in English, Arabic, Hindi, Cantonese, Tagalog? What words does God put there? 

During the birth of Jesus, God spoke to Mary through an angel. He spoke to Joseph through a dream. He spoke to the shepherds through an angel, and to the wise man through a dream. Should we expect God to communicate with us directly? Does God speak to humans? Or does God communicate primarily through messengers—angels and saints, prophets and sages, intermediaries and representatives? Or does he speak primarily in visions and dreams? Or should we expect that God speaks primarily—even only—through the Scriptures? What other channels of communication does God use? 

And by the way, does God ever appear in physical form or do we only hear his voice? Do we need to hear from God? Does God’s communication need to be miraculous, otherworldly, supernatural? Of course, God can communicate in any way he wishes. Could it be that he is communicating through my friends, my spouse, my children? Through my emails, through my letters and phone calls, through casual encounters that occur every day? Is it possible that my pet dog could be used as a voice from God? And how would I know, after all, which is God’s message and which is not? 

In the Bible, God communicates through a burning bush, a talking donkey, thunder and lightning, and a still small voice. Of all the stimuli and encounters I experience in a day, how can I tell what is coming from God? Is it even important that I know if it’s coming from God? I certainly don’t want to miss the message if God has one for me.

Is this something I can “overthink”? Most people believe that God still has messages for us today. As noted earlier, Gallup found that 23% of us say we have heard God’s voice. How do we know? How can we be sure? How, why, when, and where does God communicate with us, and what should be our expectation as far as hearing the voice of God?

C-J: [To Kiran, who can be seen in his Zoom window cuddling his infant son.] Kiran, you have a beautiful son. He’s so alert. Oh, my goodness, he is beautiful. What’s his name again?

Kiran: Vihan.

C-J: Yes, God speaks to us. Look at this little man. He’s beautiful. And all the potential. So much hair. And I see your pride as a daddy. He is just… he’s so alert. God’s work. Thank you for sharing. Thank you.

David: Go easy on that pride, Kiran! it’s one of the seven deadly sins. 😉

Don: You can be proud of your children. I don’t think that’s a deadly sin.

David: I definitely do feel that this can be “over thought” as I think Don put it. To me, it just is. That God exists is just so evident to me, so obvious. It doesn’t really require much thought. It doesn’t take any intellect to even consider it. And it’s not even necessary. Looking at Kiran and Vihan, I think, like Connie, we can see God in that picture. We can see the love. If nothing else, that’s what God wants us to see and to practice. 

And that’s enough. We really don’t need to debate whether or not God is in the picture. Just by looking at the picture we know it is a picture of love. We all feel that, so we’re all feeling the presence of God, whether we recognize it as such or not. For God is love.

Donald: Is it an experience, a unique moment, as you experience God? Is that the same thing as awe? That still small voice needs to be quiet—it needs to be an experience that happens within a quiet moment. Or is it a large encounter? Certainly the experiences Don described varied greatly. I think we’re all grateful for those experiences, but I’m not sure they are encounters with God. Maybe they point us toward God and show us who he is, give a perspective on him. But I’m not sure I consider it a God moment.

C-J: I think that depends on the individual’s expectation, or the religious community’s expectation. But I agree with what Don said. God is everywhere, in every moment, in every encounter, because he’s in the business of revelation and restoration. And it’s to that sunset that we have hope, it’s through this new child that we learn to rediscover what love is, and innocence. So at every fragment of every day, see God in all things. It’s on my gravestone: “See God in all things.”

Dewan: God is not everywhere. If God is everywhere, earth would be heaven. Through the holy spirit we can say God is everywhere; or when we pray, then his presence will be there. But God is not everywhere. If God is everywhere, Hinduism is a true religion and we can worship any idol.

C-J: People, places, and things are very different than the presence of God. I’m not in India, but I know India exists.

Dewan: But God is not on Earth. The presence of Satan is everywhere. Not God.

C-J: Is that scriptural?

Dewan: We can see nature. Jesus said: “Whenever you pray, I am there.” Through the Holy Spirit, God is everywhere. 

C-J: God has dominion over all things. He is the Creator. There may be an allowance for dominion in space. But God is in everything. He is the Great Creator, He has dominion.

Dewan: Physically, God is not everywhere. He is spiritually everywhere.

Jay: If God is talking to us, even in still small moments or whatever, what troubles me is why doesn’t it feel more obvious to us? Why doesn’t it feel more connected? Because it seems as if, through our experiences we seem to be disconnected. But if God is in the song, in the sermon, in nature, why is it that we feel so disconnected from him?

Neldeson: I would have to say that’s because of sin. We were disconnected from the garden of Eden. So when Christ came and died for us, that was the link to get us back with him, so that we can worship him and tell him our troubles and problems.

David: To me, God is not everywhere. He does not exist where his existence is not believed. God is nowhere to the unbeliever. 

C-J: That’s thinking backwards. If I don’t believe it doesn’t mean that the sun isn’t there. The sun is there. I don’t have to believe if something exists and that would negate it, because I don’t. One does not preclude the other. My ability to believe in God doesn’t take away from the fact that it exists. It may not be tangible in this dimension. When my parents died, does that mean their love died with them? It still exists.

David: Do you believe in the Easter Bunny? 😉

C-J: No I do not. Was there a time I did? Yes! 🙂

Kiran: That’s an interesting point Jason made, but I don’t feel disconnected. But at the same time, I don’t feel like I’m super-connected. I have enough connection to make me feel I’m secure. In this chaotic world, I have safety in knowing that God is with me and will guide my path. That’s all I know. If he were to talk to me as he talked to Moses, then it would be very dangerous, because I would very easily misuse that thing. I’m not ready to have such connection with God. But I think God has enough connection with me.

For example, I read devotions in my email every day. But there have been times when I read these devotions, and then I feel that is intended for me, and it touches my heart and makes me feel I’m okay. However, I’ve been reading the same devotion for the last 10 or 15 years and such moments have happened only five or six times. I intellectually understand them. I feel this helped me understand God better. I don’t feel completely  disconnected. If I feel that way—sometimes I do feel the silence of God—but I never have the feeling that he abandoned me or I don’t have a connection with him.

C-J: If I’m not mistaken, Scripture says we don’t live by our feelings, we don’t live by what state we’re in, but in all things we rejoice, and have confidence and faith that Christ is the Son of the living God and is in control of all things. It has to do with maturity. Paul spoke about this whole thing—What do you do with the unbeliever? What do you do with the person who comes from a different culture, has a different language? Paul says, then you believe that God will be revealed, if they are receptive. And even if they are not receptive, that doesn’t take anything away from the fact that God is, and that God is able to finish what he begins, and that he has a plan and even in the most terrible situations, Paul says, “I counted all joy, wherever I am, to acknowledge that this will be for the glory of God.” 

As we mature in Christ, and we we walk through the fire, and all of that is tested in us and the root goes deeper, there are days when we acknowledge “we didn’t do this today”, in terms of devotion. But as I’ve matured in God, I know God walks shoulder-to- shoulder with me, has gone before me. And I never doubt that God is in the mix. Even if I’m looking at something horrible, like Afghanistan, I go, “Oh, this is not good.” But I know that all things work to the good of God. We just have to be willing to show up and be yielded.

Jay: It’s just not very convenient. The strongest relationships I have are with people that I can talk to openly, daily. Those of you who know my wife know that she has no problem telling me exactly how she feels. The communication is clearly defined, clearly in line. I understand we’re fallen human beings, don’t get me wrong. I understand that sin has mucked it up, but as falling human beings, this need to be able to communicate with other human beings is really strong. 

How many technological advances of the last 25 years revolve around communication and being able to communicate with each other? If we weren’t so passionate about that, where would we be right now? That being the case, why can’t God just be a little more obvious, for crying out loud? Why can’t he just say what’s on this mind? Why isn’t it just easy to talk to him and have a conversation like we’re having right now? 

I am speaking for myself. It’s not easy for me. It’s not easy for me to pray for longer than three minutes, because nobody’s talking back to me. I struggle with that. Why doesn’t this God of  ,this God of grace, this God of mercy, just talk to us more?

Neldeson: Do you ever get answers for some of your problems? Like, whenever you’re thinking about something and you’re trying to get something done and all of a sudden, you find that the answer comes to you and it’s resolved? 

Jay: Sure. 

Neldeson: So, do you think your prayers that you pray, even if it’s three minutes, went unanswered?

Jay: No, I don’t think prayers go unanswered. I don’t think that God doesn’t care. That’s not  what I’m saying at all. What I’m really saying is, why can’t we just talk? I know I’m being a little glib, I understand that very well. But just as I’m sitting talking to you right now, as Don and I sit together on a Saturday afternoon and talk, why can’t I do that with God?

Kiran: Adam and Even were doing that in the garden prior to the fall, so we know that God was doing that the people. But after the fall, I think weknow very well why he didn’t do that, because in the New Testament, when Paul was going and doing miracles, the first thing the guy wanted to do was to use this magic to do make money. That’s how most religions are today. Whether it is Hinduism, or Islam, or Christianity, we want to use that connection with God, that unique ability to make money and profit from it. I think God is opposed to that. He knows the very nature of us, as simple human beings, and that’s exactly what he wants to avoid. That is why we have this [intermittent?] transmission of his communication into written communication.

Donald: There are a couple of words here that are close to what we’re talking about that aren’t exactly the same. God can reveal himself. That’s quite different than saying God spoke to me and God answered me. As a photographer, I was taught how to see. I went to school to learn how to see. And that’s a rich blessing, because most of us navigate. We don’t bump into things but we don’t look at anything as carefully as we should. Sometimes we have to be jarred to see it. 

I see it as more of an encounter, a revelation. It describes God to me but I’m not sure I feel like it is God talking with me. I’m with Jason on this communication thing—it’s tough to keep a one-way conversation going. When God answers prayer, is that actually God talking? Sometimes I get really frustrated when I can’t find something. I’ve always thought it was really dumb to ask God to help me find something—he hsurely has better things to do. But at some point you get frustrated enough to pray about it. And sometimes you find it! Then it gets scary. Why did I pray for it? And why did he answer my prayer—or did he? I don’t know. But I think we’re confusing a few things hereGod’s revelation, God’s communication, the burning bush, a donkey,..?

Kiran: Wouldn’t you call that communication? Once you find what you’re looking for? First of all, you couldn’t find it. Then, you say a prayer, and then he answered it?

Donald: You just said it: He answered my prayer. That’s actually saying, “He spoke to me through that response.”

Kiran: He communicates with you, because you communicate with him. You open the lines, you open a channel to him.

Donald: In an answered prayer, is God communicating with me is that? I think that’s your question.

Kiran: No, but what I’m saying is, sometimes you could be talking to Christ, not even praying— just in your mind, you’re having a conversation with him without you even knowing that you’re having a conversation. And things are revealed to you and you say, “Oh, I never thought of it that way!” Or something happens in front of you and an answer comes to you. We have to have more faith in how we approach God, I believe,

Donald: That’s probably fundamental to this conversation.

C-J: I think that when we communicate with each other, or when we move through life, or in our spiritual life, we have to have that internal dialogue, always in process, it has to always be in play. Because there’s that old adage: To know yourself, and to be true to it. Having a background in education and counseling, you have to know your audience, and they have to know you. The language that’s used is so critical, and the timing and the place and the tools that you’re using are so important. So I don’t think it’s any different with God because we were created in his… not that I’m spirit being… but he created us so that he could communicate with us. 

We are learning to communicate with the divine, so we need to be aware (and this is what I hear Neldeson saying) of what’s going on inside of our heads, because I think God is always in the business of transforming. There’s a translation problem, maybe. No, “What did you say? Did I get that right?” But I think God is always communicating with us through our environment and that internal dialogue and pushing that root down deeply.

Carolyn: I’d like to interject this little thought, and I don’t mean to be negative, but where God communicates with us we have to decipher whether the spirit is of God or the spirit of Satan. We are close to those voices in our head. They’re at war with each other. I think praying continually without ceasing is our side of the communication. We have to be aware that Satan will interject his ideas into our heads also.

Jay: I really appreciate Connie’s words, but the communication that’s been described is so indirect, not direct. I have to be in tune to something, I have to be reflective, and so on. As Karen was talking, sitting there and holding Vihan, I was thinking: What would it be like to be a parent who says to your child: “OK, you’re in this world, you made a bad choice that screwed up the whole world so now you’re going to have to raise yourself in this world and I am not going to directly talk to you about it. I’m not going to directly speak to you and guide you.” 

Can you imagine being a parent and that directly speaking to your child, and giving them the instructions, advice, and so on? These internal dialogues are happening in my head. Why doesn’t God say, “Yo, this is God, and I’m telling ya this….” The Gallup poll indictaes that a quarter of people do have that sense of assurance that of divine  communication. But that means that three quarters of us don’t have that sense. That is a lot of people who don’t have this sense of being directly communicated to by God. That seems to be a really large void. That seems odd.

C-J: The most important, the most effective and important communication is non-verbal, not the verbal. I work with kids who came from horrible families yet they’re some of the smartest kids I’ve ever met. Not in terms of book, but what they’ve learned by observation and their resiliency. So I think it depends on the [weight?]. I do not want to be a Gideon. I don’t want to feel that if I don’t see God, if I don’t audibly hear God, if I don’t see God part the waters for me, then I’m always going to have a question mark at the end of the sentence. 

I think it’s by the Holy Spirit resident within us that God will reveal Himself in every day. And yes, I have had some unique experiences in God, but I don’t rest on that. I don’t say “Well, I always have that,” like first love. For me, it’s the daily walk. A marriage began maybe with first love—that infatuation and all that chemistry, but it’s work. It’s also about learning the nuance, noticing something like, “Are you making this?” and you smell that fragrance as you walk in the door. Or when they just stop and they’re looking and you go “What?” And they’re just saying: “I just realized how much I love you.” And you’re embarrassed. Like, “I love you, too. What am I supposed to say? Do I have to buy flowers now?” 

That really does happen. And I think that’s the way God is—the fragrance in the room, the “He loves me with all my ugly…. I don’t want anybody to know that thought. I want people to think this about me.” And God says, “I know you and I love you. I loved you in your sin. I took you as you are.” That’s profound. I don’t need to hear God say “Good morning, Connie. I love you.”  

I see the sun come up. I look at my dog. And I say “Good morning, Lord” first, because I woke up and I’m still here. One day I’ll wake up and I’ll be in the presence of pure light and energy and consciousness without having to find it in a sunset. It’s profound.

Bryan: I’m more on Jason’s side with regard to why isn’t it easier? Why don’t we have direct intervention, direct interaction, telling us what to do, where to go, that kind of thing. I’ve changed how I feel about that in the last year or so. It circles back to our discussions on faith that we’ve had in months past. I look back at the children of Israel: There were times when God was very involved in people’s lives, with direct intervention, and it didn’t seem to do a whole lot of good. They still did what they were going to do anyway. The direct intervention maybe even made them a little more callous. 

So yes, it seems like it would be easier, but for some reason that’s not the way it is. We have to search for it. The story that I talked about last week is not the sort of thing you go looking for. You find yourself in situations where you understand that what you think is hallowed ground is happening. It stands the test of time in your mind, too, that God is real. God does interact with us in ways that are profound to us. It’s an emotional experience. It doesn’t really matter what other people think about your story. You can tell people and they may discount it. That doesn’t matter, because you know in your own mind that what you saw, what you experienced, was in fact hallowed ground. 

I’ve come to the realization that God is real. We can continue to look for him, but I’m now comfortable with the fact that there is no day-to-day direct intervention with pillars of fire or burning bushes or something like that. I don’t know if that answers it. But for me it it increases the comfort level that we have to decide that that is not something we’re going to have and we have to experience God in other dimensions.

Reinhard: Everything is based on faith. Life experience leads us closer to God through faith. We don’t hear God’s voice, but we get close to him through our search, through reading of the Scriptures, through our discussions, in which I feel God’s presence, I feel our relationship with God getting stronger. We put our life in God’s hands every day. We don’t have to have a direct response. I can tell from what I see surrounding me and from what I do that God protects me. When I take a trip, not only do I arrive safely but also also there is no turbulence. To me, God is omnipresent. Not physically, but through guardian angels. The angel doesn’t have to talk to us but I think if we ask God for guidance and protection, in our daily surrendering to God we can feel it active in our life. 

The Israelites were scared to listen to God’s voice. They wanted Moses to tell them what God wanted. They saw the pillar of fire directly but that was not enough to make them want to follow God’s command. Belief is really important. It grows stronger as we go though life. Jesus blessed those who believe without seeing That’s what faith requires.. It’s not what we see, it’s what we believe through the messages we get from Scripture, from life, from sermons, from hymns…. These things make us strong. We feel the presence of God without hearing God’s voice.

Kiran: I feel that a lot of people want God to say something to them and do this and to do that. But God gave us free will. I think if he’s going to guide us and tell us what to do, I wouldn’t want that free will taken away from me, even though he’s there guiding us and trying to tell us how we should go about things. And we still do things the wrong way sometimes. He’s still there. 

I view my free will as opportunity. I wouldn’t want that to be taken away from me or have someone ruling, telling me exactly what to do, as though we are at work and have a boss telling us exactly what to do step by step. It’s hard to explain. But I would like to have my free will.

Donald: I think this connects to that, in that I do believe that God is trying to communicate with me (I don’t know I’d say talk with me). But he’s trying to communicate with me.

Selfishness gets in the way of being able to hear God. In my men’s Bible study group (pretty much all retired) we were wondering how much on our bucket lists involved trying to communicate with God or had anything to do with God. It’s a scary thought. So maybe God is trying to get through to us. There’s lots of ways in which he can communicate with me, but I’m not doing a very good job listening.

David: How come Adam and Eve didn’t get the message from God? They were communicating with him like crazy, presumably, before the fall. And then they end up like Neldeson, wanting their free will.

Donald: Selfishness.

C-J: I don’t see this as selfishness. I see this. Kids grow up and leave the nest. But in terms of your to do list, whatever you do, do it unto the Lord. When people see discipline, when people see productivity, when we work as professionals, we are doing that unto the Lord, whatever gifts he gave us, whatever desire he put in our hearts, do it unto the Lord and give God the glory for everything that we have and we do. Because we are his servant. 

God gave you that gift to teach others to see through a different lens. Those in ministry, those in healthcare, are all the hands of God in this dimension. Free will is very important because in that process everything is a tool, an instrument in God’s hand. I believe God uses other people to speak to us every day. Every event is God talking to me. Every every single thing is an opportunity to experience God for me.

Neldeson: I claim I want my free will but still I will abide in God’s ways because I see the mistakes that I made along the way. So it’s still a good thing to have. That’s all I’m saying.

Jeff: I don’t think I want my free will. I don’t want to have to go around using some Rosetta Stone to figure out what God’s saying through all the activities around me on a daily basis. I’m not saying that there aren’t times that you can feel that, but I think this may be a personality thing as well. Some of us crave a concrete, clear message and find it much harder to discern and infer through our surroundings what God is trying to say

C-J: Our free will as we mature becomes a free will offering. “Not my will, but your will.” But concrete. I meet concrete people, and they’re really hard for me to deal with because I’m a very abstract thinker. But there’s a beauty in the clay that God has fashioned us in. Concrete people are very, very good at getting things done. They’re great in linear thinking, they’re great in starting things. I’m one of those people like, “Oh, let’s try this!” And they’re like, “Don’t distract me, I’ve got a plan. I’ve got everything laid out.” So we balance each other out, and I learned from concrete people to find a way to put that in, because that’s the safety net. If you make a mistake, you’re going to know right away: It didn’t work; where did it start to go wrong? That’s a really good thing to have. 

When I get off the sidewalk, I might not even know it. And I’m like, “Okay, I’m lost in the woods. How do I get back? I don’t even know where I am. Where’s the sun shining? What time of day is it?” I learned out there, but it’s not easy for me to come back. I have a lot of scars, bumps, and bruises. So it’s a good thing to have people like you that I can get behind and say, “Okay, how was I supposed to do that?” If I just listen, there’s a balance. We all need each other, and I grow from very concrete people, because I have to examine my thinking. 

Anonymous: I guess everybody has his own very individual, personal experience with God. I know he talks to me (not audibly) through my thoughts. I communicate with him during the day, sometimes so intensely that I cry and sometimes as short as “Thank you God.” I know he directs my ways. I know he’s with me, always. 

He gives me messages according to my life, according to my circumstances. I believe he talks through nature, circumstances, people, the Bible, through everything. He can get himself into everything in my life. Even through, I don’t know, warm water!—I feel blessed that I have warm water. 

We have to know something about a person we’re communicating with in order to make the communication effective. So if you don’t have an experience with God, if you don’t read the Bible, if you don’t know much about God, you probably can’t tell whether something is from God or not. Even though God speaks with everyone, not everyone receives. 

People should know that God is trying to communicate with them, and if we interpret God according to our needs and our perceptions, most likely we are going to miss the the real message or we will be miscommunicating.

I don’t want to exaggerate but so many experiences prove to me that God is talking. He wants to be involved in everything—in my feelings, in my plans, in my talking to people, in my going out and coming in—everything! Especially after the fact, after the circumstance is gone, God gives me some way to see how it was good, how it was directed by him, how his hand was in it, even though I didn’t feel it at that time. 

So there’s a million ways God communicates with people on both levels—personal and universal. But my question is, do we receive? Are we hearing him? Are we noticing that he’s trying to communicate with us?

Don: That’s a that’s a good note to end on. We’re going to talk next week about what God is trying to say? Are we asking questions that he’s willing and trying to answer? Or are we talking past each other in a in a way that makes the communication much more questionable and difficult?

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