I look through the pages of the bible and can't help thinking that its unfair that some people in the bible had such clear revelations of God. Jacob, Moses, Paul, Adam, Mary. These people were spoken to directly, by God. Or by angels. Or were given visions.
God has never spoken to me, at least not audibly. I perceive that I have thoughts that are foreign to my usual way of thinking, which I often attribute to having come from God. But how can I be sure of this?
All I would want is a few words. "Luke, hello, this is God. Have a nice day". Surely that is not hard for God to do.
The standard Christian response is that God speaks to us through His word, and we have the Holy Spirit now to communicate with us. And also that we shouldn't question God's ways.
But I just find God's apparent complete silence for the past 2000 years quite eery, and disturbing, and I want to know why God would not just say a few words to us.
Hey Sharp,
It's interesting you raise this question. For a while now I have really been struggling with the notion of 'Trusting God' not because I don't believe, but because I've never really felt an answer from Him when I pray.
This morning on our way to church we had a 'Point of Grace' CD playing and one of the songs was all about how we still doubt, when we really don't need to. I remember listening to the lyrics and being really moved...and then we got to church and the sermon was all about prayer, and 'what is prayer?'.
You might think I'm kind of going off the topic of your original question here, but let me elaborate
I think God DOES talk to us, just in a variety of ways. Sometimes we can pray and feel like we never get an answer (because He might not answer instantly- or even audibly). I can tell you I don't ever think I have heard God AUDIBLY speak to me, but I KNOW He speaks to me.
Sometimes we tend to put God in a box. Like we pray about something and think God should give us answer X (because well, that would be the logical answer) but then God gives us answer Y. Sometimes we don't even realise that answer Y is the answer and so we sit there waiting, getting more and more frustrated, when in fact the answer is actually right in front of us.
The thing to remember is we are human, and so we think of logical answers. God may not always answer the way we expect. Sometimes His answers are so left-field we're sitting there going 'Are you serious Lord?', but if you obey and trust Him, you'll see that He really does have a plan.
I don't know how many times I've had things happen, which have allowed other things to happen, and then in turn opened other doors (like a domino effect). It's not until after it's all said and done, I look back and go 'OOOH now I see why that happened. God needed this first thing to happen so I could be in this situation now. Thanks God'. At the time it doesn't make sense, but eventually it does. This can be especially hard to understand when some of the answers God gives us are ones we don't want to hear, or result in us having to do things we don't want to do. But we gotta learn that God sees the bigger picture, even when we can't.
I think if I can offer you any advice it's to open your heart to be more receptive of ways God can speak to you. He might speak to you through another person, through a passage of scripture, through a situation/encounter, or through a stirring in your spirit. He might not speak to you audibly, but if you're aware you will KNOW when and how He speaks to you. So pray that He will open your heart and enable you to be aware and listen.
Lately, I've also been challenged to thank God when I acknowledge Him answering my prayer. I find it easy to go ' oh that's the answer. This must be God answering my prayer' then get so caught up in going full steam ahead with His answer, I forget to actually thank and acknowledge Him for answering me.
I was just having this conversation only hours ago with Hubby, so this is another challenge for me. I hope sharing with you what He has revealed to me, helps you some. I hope that makes sense.
Katie
