If God’s simplest intention is for unbreakable human connection, then a critical part of the process would be a secure method of connection. We have spoken in the past about how hearing God is critical to Christian faith and becoming a Christian. Well, it’s not enough just to hear, although it is a great start. It’s also important to be heard. However, just as important as that, it is also good to be responded to.
This back and forth is essentially the beginnings of communication. It becomes complete when both the speaker(s) and the hearer(s) understand each other’s intentions. God wants to connect with every human being on the earth. He loves each and every single one of us. He sees value in our lives and in getting to know us not just because He is God but because we want Him to get to know us.
God also wants to be known. He wants to be seen, felt and experienced by all of His creation, human beings included. God has put in each and every one of us a desire for Him. Some of us have explored that desire. While some of us have being successful in suppressing that desire. Perhaps, some of us were once in touch with that desire but have now lost it. Perhaps, the allures and realities of life (one of which is God, though people are quick to disregard it) have choked out and trampled on the desire for God that He himself put in each and every one of us. However, one thing is clear, God wants to be known.
In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, which details the creation of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, God would often come down from heaven to spend time on earth with his creation. We get to see some excerpts of their speech. In chapter 2 vs 15, God said to Adam: “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden.” In verse 23, after Eve was created, Adam spoke saying “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” These are important points to make because they point to a God who can speak and His creation who were created to be able to do the same.
In Genesis chapter 3 vs 9 – 10, we see the first recorded conversation between God and man in the Bible – where both speak to, hear each other and understand as the other intends to be understood. In this episode, God is calling out for Adam, prompting Adam’s explanation that He is hiding because He did not want to be found. Again, this is important because it grounds the point that communication and understanding between God and man was part of the original design of life. God’s intention was to speak, be heard and understood and He created a people who would be able to speak to Him, that He would be able to hear and that He would understand.
Increasing knowledge about God and His ways makes clear that He does not condone waste or intend it. The human ability to communicate to God and vice-versa is intended for use. Just as we communicate to our families, friends, schoolmates and colleagues, our bodies are intended for communication with God. Seen this way, communication is a minimum for relationship with God. It may consist of verbal and non-verbal methods (as Adam’s did in Genesis 3) but communication is non-negotiable.
Adam’s verbal communication in this passage is clear but his non-verbal is also there. It is evident in his hiding away from God. Through this action, he was saying something to God and it was a point which God understood fully well judging by His reaction. What are your non-verbal ways of communicating to God? Do you hide or shy away from saying something to Him? Do you exhale deeply? Are you lost for words? Are there tears in the corners of your eyes?
God wants to hear you and understand you. He is listening. He has given us a huge part of himself in the form of the Bible. The Bible represents many of the things God feels and thinks about humans because they are the things He has said, felt and thought about other people just like us. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to be the bridge between Himself and us but did not stop there. He has called and sent numerous people, just like us here at That Christian Next Door, to also reach out and bring a piece of Him to the world at large. The fact of it is that God’s desire is for us. It is to have fellowship and connection at the deepest level with all of us.
If we want to start a relationship with God, we will undoubtedly need to communicate with Him. The question is: what could we say? The Bible holds a few clues. Psalm 25 vs 4 features an inspired King David asking God to show him His ways. Psalm 34 vs 8 includes the recommendation “Taste and see that the Lord is good”. In Ecclesiastes 3 vs 11, King Solomon muses on how God “has put a sense of past and future” in the human mind that points to Him but that, at the same time, also obfuscates Him.
Have you ever pondered on the beauty of the sky or on the relaxing warmth of the morning sun through a glass pane on a frosty day? Have your ever being fixated by the glistening of dew-drizzled grass or gotten lost in the majesty of any one of nature’s glorious sights? All of these point to God but then they obfuscate. They offer a glimpse of a wonder that can neither be man-made nor the work of chance but then they leave us with more questions than answers. You can also examine your life and how you have made it to where you are now despite all you have been through.
Now for a radical thought: What if, rather than walk away, we engaged with that glimpse of wonder? What if we reached beyond the ordinary in front of us and tried to connect with the extraordinary? What if, as we look in the mirror or upon nature or on whatever it is that seems to point to the handiwork of someone far greater than us, we said something to the effect of:
God, I believe you can hear me and that I was created with the intention of hearing you. Thank you for the honor to speak to you. I don’t know too much about you but when I slow down and pay close attention, so much of the natural world around me screams of you. I have gotten glimpses but I want to know more about you. How can I get to know more of you?
It is our sincere belief as Christians that God would respond to such words and reveal something of himself to those who truly want to experience Him not just out of curiosity but out of a deep-seated longing for connection with Him. In Jeremiah 29 vs 13, God himself puts it this way: “You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.”
If you are interested in following through on what has been discussed here, we would like to be of help. You can get in touch with us through our social media channels on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
Be blessed.
That Christian Next Door 