God Speaks

God speaks.

But God is not an all-night radio talk show of unbroken chatter. God, rather, speaks in episodes that punctuate seasons of silence. Think about the story of Samuel in the temple – he spoke to God but God is said to have spoken -- rarely. Or how about the Canaanite woman who asked Jesus to heal her dying daughter. Jesus seemed to include unnecessary moments of silence in the healing of the little girl.

There is no reason that we can see that explains why God speaks episodically. I too wonder why in some instances we hear God crystal clear and in other instances God is as opaque as the Hebrew alphabet. We only know that there is a mysterious rhythm to the speech and silence of God that uncoils from the wild and wise freedom of God.

If you are in period of your life where you are dying to hear the voice of God but you can’t seem to do it, I implore you – hold on – God does speak. It just comes in fragments.

Martin Luther King, Jr. tells a story in one of his books that in the middle of the Montgomery bus boycott, he was facing a personal crisis of confidence. With negotiations with the city bogging down and resistance from the white community strengthening, he was growing not only weary but frightened as well. He had received over forty telephone calls threatening his life and the well being of his family. Late one night, he returned home from a meeting only to receive yet another call warning him to leave town soon if he wanted to stay alive.

Unable to sleep after this disturbing threat, he sat at the kitchen table and worried. In the midst of his anxiety something told him that he could no longer call on anyone for help but God. So he prayed, confessing his weakness and his loss of courage. “At that moment,” he said later, “I could hear an inner voice saying to me ‘Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for the truth. And lo, I will be with you, even until the end of the world.’” It was, realized King, the voice of Jesus speaking a word of promise, a word of reassurance, a timely word of comfort and strength.

When you most need to hear God – you can bet God will be there. God may speak in fragments but they are timely. The trick is slowing yourself down to listen.

Revelation is what we call God speaking. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a revelation. God spoke.

But revelation is not us bringing ourselves to the awareness that we can see God. Revelation is rather God bringing us into an awareness that the heavens are preaching a word we could not know unless we gazed upon God. Revelation is not merely patterns to a fractioned speech, awaiting a science sophisticated enough to map it, but a shout in the street crying a news we could not have anticipated, news that God is at work in creation, providing and saving, reconciling and judging, nurturing and healing.

God speaks. You just have to learn to listen for it.

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