Talking to God

I was sitting in my porch swing, minding my own business, when the effect of the ceiling fan spinning above me captured my divided attention.  The soggy air it was pushing down was just the wrong side of comfortable.  I debated if it was worth the effort to get up and turn the fan off. 

Before I could stop it, another thought interrupted my interrupted thinking.  The space between me and the fan is occupied by air molecules.  I could not see them, but I could tell they were there, or more accurately, moving past me.  My thinking splintered into subdivisions of the different ways in which I encounter the unseen air molecules around me.  Each of my senses communicates their interaction with this invisible element in which my daily life is immersed.  I believe I am addicted to air. 

The warming morning air has awakened the cicadas in the trees surrounding our home to continue their annoying chorus of noise pollution.  Crows are calling to each other overhead.  The truck of the highly appreciated guy who comes every week to take away our refuge is rattling as it travels bumpy gravel driveways. 

When Luke Skywalker’s X-wing fighter destroyed an Imperial Fighter, we cheered as we saw and heard the explosion. Unfortunately, the reality is that in space, there would be no sound to hear.  There are no molecules to stir the air molecules, causing them to bump into each other and finally into our eardrums.  Even so, I liked the sound accompanying the celluloid recorded destruction of Imperial fighters. 

I have no control over how many air molecules are between me and the fan over my head.  God has generously supplied a life-sustaining number of them. However, I do control what lies between other people and me, especially between God and me. 

In relationships, what I value determines how well I hear the moaning and joys of those who equally share the air molecules surrounding our celestial sphere.  The higher I appreciate myself, the less I will value those around me.  Another way to say it is, the more I love me, the less I will love anything or anyone else.  That is precisely why the ancient Egyptians could not hear God speak through Moses; they valued their gods over the Creator God. 

This way of thinking is also at the core of all racism, class system, and other pigeonholing humans do with other humans.  It has never been a good thing to build protective barriers to keep people who are different at a distance.  Focusing on differences always creates a hostile environment for humanity to be at its best at being the image of their Creator.

The most atrocious moments in history always have an element of “acceptable” humans segregating themselves from those seen as less “acceptable.” To make matters worse, the “acceptable” seek ways to recycle the unacceptable to increase the pleasure and prosperity of those who are the self-deemed acceptable.

Humans have done the same thing with God.  Once we deem ourselves as acceptable, we, at the same time, assign God to be unacceptable. We remake God into our image. As a result, we give less value to God than we do to ourselves.  This is dangerous!

If you happen to be in a place where you could use a fresh word from God, you are not alone.  Actually, that is what prayer is all about.  The more excellent value we place on God, the easier it is to hear Him communicate with us.  But your prayer life is mainly to get God to act on your behalf.  While at the same time avoiding any honest request for Him to examine the dark hidden rooms of our personal space, then we may just be talking to ourselves.  In the end, what we think we hear from God is only the echo of our own reasoning, which we have placed in His mouth. So do not expect to hear much from God if you are talking louder than He is.  However, if you value God above all else, you will certainly hear and understand Him in everything.  Such a two-sided conversation doesn’t come naturally.  But, it will come as we learn and incorporate His values.

I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple. For he will conceal me in his shelter in the day of adversity; he will hide me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock. (Psalm 27:4-5 CSB)

Photo – Flowers on the bank of the White River at Hazelton, Indiana.