God Spoke

"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways"
-Hebrews 1:1

I want to reflect on the fact that God spoke. When he created the world, he spoke. He wanted something, he just said it, and there it was. The words that came from his 'mouth' at that time were powerful - so powerful that an infinite and incomprehensible universe came about through his words. He set the stars in place and made boundaries for the seas that they cannot cross. He created my intestinal tract and the human mind. God's speaking is nothing insignificant.

But here we're told he spoke to men. The Most High God made himself and his will known to men - sinful men He shouldn't even be mindful of us, we're so far beneath him. In his righteous justice, he should have annihilated us by how because of our sin. But instead he spoke. He spoke of his Law, his desire to draw people and nations to himself. He even spoke to individuals about their personal problems - like Hagar(Genesis 16:7-13). His speaking reveals that he cares about us. It also shows us he desires to be known and glorified.

He was persistent too. He spoke many times and in various ways. He kept on pursuing people. He was not limited to one form of address. He spoke through Moses, he talked directly to Abraham. He sent angels to Mary and Daniel. He even gave a donkey the voice of a man to stop the madness of Balaam the prophet (Numbers 22:21-30).

Even though he was serious about having people listen and obey, he was persistent and patient. He didn't speak once to Moses and expect us to be eternally obedient and understanding. He spoke again and again through the ages in many forms.

One of those forms was through the prophets. Moses, Samuel, David, Jeremiah, Isaiah. Sometimes the people listened. Usually they rejected what the prophets were saying, and effectively rejected God.

But the response of the Israelites does not change the fact that God spoke. He spoke to his people, urging them to be his people, reminding them he loved them and wanted their hearts. Sometimes his words seemed harsh and angry - but they were always based in his love for his people and his value of his own glory. He constantly invited people to come into a relationship with him. What better gift could he give them than to allow them to enjoy him? The judgements he spoke were just, but they were also invitations to repent.

When God spoke it was always to invite people to be his. To come out from the world and belong to the Most High God. Whether he invited them to a mountain or a feast, or told them he'd destroy their land, or comforted a woman in her fear, he was always reaching out a hand to lift up those who would respond in faith.


On Thanksgiving, I want to thank God for being so gracious to us, so graciously condescending that he would create angels and galaxies and then turn and speak to sinful men - even sending his Son to teach us and save us. I'm thankful that he's seen fit to speak to us even when he knows many will not listen or even try to hear. I'm thankful that he has chosen to make himself known to us, and that he has been persistent through the ages to speak and call people to himself.

Look Alive

I read my Bible every day, with rare exceptions. For a while there, I would sit on the couch with a cup of coffee in the morning. I'd do a magic flip, or read a Psalm, or flip back and forth between Old and New Testament books. I had no reading plan, and I was pretty much just reading for a thought for the day. God showed me stuff, but my time in the Bible wasn't really that exciting.

Recently, I decided I wanted to start really studying the Bible again. I won't go into detail about my methods, but for the past couple of weeks, I've been sitting down with my Bible (in the 2 translations I have here) and a notebook and several different colored pens or even colored pencils. I've been picking apart sentences, making outlines, looking at word order, asking the author questions and letting the text answer.

You know what I'm noticing more than anything else in my studies? PASSION! God is passionately in love with people. So much so that he died for us. And he wants us to be passionately in love with Him. And when we're passionately in love with Him, we are so eager to please. That turns us into obedient children, not because God is a strict father, but because we love Him so much we want to give Him joy by living like He wants us to!

The language of the Bible is strong language. The New Testament is filled with phrases like, "be all the more eager," "make every effort,"see to it," "count it pure joy," "inexpressible and glorious joy," etc. The Bible doesn't really leave room for lukewarm Christianity. Church on Sunday morning is not the point. He wants us JOYFUL and HAPPY in Him. He wants us to eagerly pursue qualities that magnify Him. He wants us to persevere, and in perseverance there is greater intimacy and joy.

Every so often, I'll read a book or watch a movie that makes me wish I could just move back to America, have a nice kitchen, comfortable couches, a handsome husband, and maybe a decent looking car. Once in a while, I feel like trading in the Pursuit of Happiness in God for the pursuit of happiness through the American dream. But what I've seen in God's written word over the past few weeks pushes me forward. Deep down, I know this is the point (or at least part of it) - that we passionately fall in love with God who first passionately loved us.

I'm just sayin'....

Inconvenient Love

Yesterday, after I finished up my language classes for the day, I got on the bus to go home. The bus didn't pull out of the stop for a while, so we sat there waiting for about 5 minutes. In that short time, I witnessed a pretty brutal fight outside the bus. I heard the sound of fist-impact before I heard the sound of the man screaming. I looked out, and about 100 yards from the bus, 2 guys were viciously beating up another. Thankfully, there was a small police booth nearby, and the police came quickly to break up the fight. People on the bus were commenting, "Oh, he's a thief."

What caught my attention after all the 'excitement' faded was the crowd of people who gathered to watch the fight. In about 45 seconds probably 100 people were standing at shop doors, on the sidewalk and on the street watching. Not a single one moved to break up the fight. Only the police did that.

This reminded me of one of the aspects of this culture that often bothers me. People don't get involved in the needs of strangers. If there's a car accident, a huge crowd will gather to watch, but not one will call for help let alone roll up their sleeves to lend a hand. A few months back, a few friends of mine who couldn't swim got caught in some deep water. As their friends called for help, onlookers simply refused to lend a hand to pull them out of the water.

A while back, a friend told me a story about a man out here who tried to save another man who'd fallen overboard into a river. When he called for help, onlookers did nothing. After the drowning man died, he asked them why they didn't help save the guy. Their reply? "It wasn't convenient."

I think we Westerners underestimate the impact Christianity and Judaism have had on our culture. For a few thousand years, we've been trained by the Bible's radical philosophies to love our neighbors. Christians in particular follow the model of the ultimate self-sacrificer, Jesus. In our culture, one of the greatest virtues is sacrificial love. If we are not so brave and loving as to give our lives for others, we are at least willing and quick to lend a hand when we see someone in need.

It's not my intention to raise up Western Society as somehow more civilized or advanced. My point is that without the example of God's love, and his desire to see us love each other, self-serving is more the norm than self-sacrifice.

Cultures that have never encountered the teachings of the Bible are unaquainted with this radical love. They worship and serve idols that can do them no good, gods that need to be appeased and manipulated. But the Bible teaches of a God who so loved the world that He gave his only Son to die, and his Son willingly died, for sinful, undeserving men and women. And that's the kind of love He wants to see in His children.

Please pray with me that people of these cultures would see this selfless love in God's people, and be moved to worship Him and receive the Free Gift of His sacrificial love. Pray that witnessing that kind of love would register deep within them so they would say, "I knew all along there had to be more/better... and now God has revealed it."