God Talk

God is always talking to us because he has spoken. The other night I was out hunting in the cold and rain. As the wind blew and the clouds zipped past I was reminded that I was quite small. I was wonderfully awakened to the reality that there is little I can do to even survive if things go bad with mother nature. This is one way God speaks to us. He talks through nature.

But we avoid this "God talk" by lining in climate controlled homes and transporting ourselves in climate controlled vehicles. We Americans live in a world that is separated from "God talk" 101. If we could just go out in the cold some night and watch the stars, we would feel much less sure of ourselves and much more assured of God's ability to hole all things together.

Bird watching is also another biblical method of hearing the Lord. Poor birds, out there is the wind and rain. What is it with God that going through a little hardship that might lead to death is, "not that big of a deal". I guess if you are going to live forever, not living is not big!

I think that if you want to hear from God you need to be aware of your limits. It seems like to start to learn "God talk" you need to be aware that He does not speak English, but talks in nature, storms, plant and animal behaviour and fire. This is probably scary to those who sit in easy chairs and read all about God in books. Yet to the poor, the needy, the oppressed in this world love God talking to them in real life language. For when you are tired, hungry, suffering; nothing quite lifts the spirit as beholding the one who holds the stars in His hand, who is the cause of the winds and the waves and who is aware of that little bird, shivering in the branches.

We all must choose to either keep on loving the God we make up in our minds or to love the one who is. Loving the God who is requires much more humility that loving the God of our own perception, but in the long run, the real is always better than the imaginary.