Talking With God by Larry W. Peebles November 16, 2018 18.34
“Do you actually talk with God?” is a question I have heard a few times recently. The answer is undeniably yes; I speak to Him, and He speaks to me. That is why I use the phrase talk with God, and not talk to God or listen to God. The Bible is full of examples where people of faith spoke with God. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses are all examples that easily come to mind. The Bible says Moses spoke with God “as a friend speaks with a friend.” King David and the prophets conversed with God. The crowds heard the audible voice of God at Jesus’ baptism. Saul of Tarsus was converted from a Christian persecutor to a Christian proponent (Paul) when he heard the audible voice of Jesus while traveling on the road to Damascus. That experience of hearing the voice of God propelled him into the role of leading apostle and father figure to the early church. Much of the New Testament comes from his writings following his conversion experience. These are but a few of the examples from the Bible. For the sake of space, I have omitted more examples than I have included. God has not changed.
Jehovah God is the eternal, living God. He is not an idol of wood or stone. He takes a loving interest in His children, and He listens and speaks to them. This simple statement became immensely profound to me when I traveled to India with a dear friend for evangelistic meetings. These meetings were planned for places deep in the heart of the Hindu religion, where the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ had never gone. According to their religion, the people had prayed to images of birds, monkeys and tigers all of their lives. It was not until they heard of Jesus, and cried out to Him, that they got an answer. Bodies were healed, problems were solved, and inner peace came. The people knew they had found the one true God—the One who heard their prayers and answered with wisdom and action. They never had that result praying to the image of an animal.
God is not distant. He is as close as friend, and is more than willing to listen and talk. To make this point, I will use two more examples from my recent daily reading in the Bible, and two stories from my personal experience. The purpose is to encourage the reader to seek God in conversation, because if He will speak to me, He will certainly speak to all who seek Him. Psalm 91:15-16 says- “He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Jeremiah 33:3- “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
In reading from the Book of Numbers, I was struck with this passage of scripture- “Now when Moses went into the tabernacle of meeting to speak with Him [God], he heard the voice of One speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the Testimony [Covenant], from between the two cherubim; thus He spoke to Him.” (Numbers 7:89) Numbers Chapter 8 goes on to detail the instructions/wisdom Moses received from God pertaining to the arrangement of the lampstands in the tabernacle, and the service of the Levites in the tabernacle. These details may seem to be unimportant, but they were important to God, to Moses, and the children of Israel at the time. God is still involved in the details of our lives today, and is available to talk with us about them. What impressed me in this scripture was that not only did Moses hear from God on the matters at hand, he knew exactly where the voice came from. God’s spoken words to Moses were both intentional and directional.
From my personal experience, here is a story that also makes this point. Driving my car back home after running errands in the neighborhood on a Saturday afternoon, I approached a T-intersection. Traffic was light. I saw the green light, and knew I would come into the intersection and turn left to go home. As I got closer to the intersection, I heard a voice come from over my left shoulder that said “Look left.” There was no one in the car with me. If there had been I would have expected to hear the sound coming from my right side, because I was sitting on the left side in the driver’s seat. When the voice came over my left shoulder, I immediately turned to look left, as instructed. The direction of the sound helped me comply with the urgent and intentional message. I saw only one car approaching from the left, but it had the red light. Paying great attention to what I had just heard, I kept my eye on that car, and began to reduce speed. The car to my left did not appear to be slowing for a stop, so despite the green light, I came to a complete stop at the intersection. The car ran the red light and would have hit me broad side on the driver’s side if I had not stopped. That warning was the audible voice of God, and it was both intentional and directional. For those who might say that just does not seem possible, see Isaiah 30:21- “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” When He speaks, we can know it and hear it, and it can be intentional and directed to the matter at hand. He does not always speak this way, but when He does, it is often imperative to take action.
The second verse that left an impression in my daily Bible reading recently also comes from Numbers. In Numbers 9:8 we read- “And Moses said to them, ‘Stand still, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.’ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying…..” As background, Moses was leading millions of the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the land promised to their forefathers. He was not simply leading them in a change of location. A change in thinking would also be required—the way they thought about freedom (no longer slaves), culture (unique in the ways of God), and religion (the true God in place of Egyptian idols). Moses had his hands full. He was totally dependent on God for answers and wisdom. In the midst of this two men asked him a rather detailed question- Is it ok to take the Passover meal if they have become “unclean” being in contact with a human corpse? Notice Moses did not say “Let me pray about it, and I’ll get back to you.” He told the two men to wait there (stand still) while he sought an answer. His relationship with God was such that he needed and expected an answer on the spot, which he received. He did not have to pray and agonize over an answer for weeks and months. He got an immediate answer.
Here is another personal example to consider. When my wife’s mother passed away, her father had already passed. My wife received her inheritance from the estate. We were far from wealthy at the time, paying for a home and cars, and having just finished helping our children with college and weddings. We had enough resources, but not extra resources. The inheritance was significant to our financial picture at the time. Although I viewed it as my wife’s inheritance, we both agreed to pray about what to do with the money. God answered immediately. The church we attended was growing, but was leasing part of a shopping center for a meeting place. The pastor had identified a property to buy that would accommodate the growth and future vision for the church. On an early morning three mile run, I asked the Lord for the first time what we should do with that money. He immediately said “Your wife will want to give it to the church for the building program.” I was so excited to have that communication from Him. I ran straight home and asked my wife if she had decided what to do with the money. Without hesitation, she said we should give a very significant portion to the church building program. God had been talking with her as well, and we all three came into agreement instantly. What a relief to have the matter settled. We quickly met with our financial consultant for the first time to tell him what we wanted to do with the money he was holding for us. He could not believe we wanted to cash in most of the investments and give the money to the church. He probably had his own recommendations, but we had a word from the Lord.
The rest, as they say, is history. The money was a huge blessing to the church. We live in another state now, but that church is still growing, and its ministry influence reaches around the world. It is headquartered in a beautiful building, with plenty of land and office space to expand. God also took care of us. We have since had finances more than sufficient to meet our needs. Our home and cars are paid off. We have had money to retire from working in the market place, and we still travel for God to the reaches of the globe to carry His Word. He has blessed us many times over for the money we gave away.
When we have cultivated a relationship with the Lord, we can expect that our conversations with Him can be intentional and directional. We can expect that the wisdom we seek from Him can be immediate, although admittedly it comes in His perfect timing, which can be later. When we do get that answer or wisdom from Him, it is good to act quickly in obedience. He values obedience over sacrifice. I Samuel 15:22. The New Living Translation says- “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9) I would add- expect and keep on expecting to hear from God. He loves us and would like to converse with us.
