It seems "too good to be true" that God wants to be close to us with such an intimate caliber, yet, here we are staring the truth in the face that God actually wants that closeness with us nonetheless, unearned and undeserved
What is God telling us?
What is He wanting us to hear . . . to see . . . to feel?
What path of thoughts is He wanting us to travel down?
Do we even believe right now that God is speaking to us?
Do we even believe that He wants to?
Of course we may think He can which is reasonable to assume . . . because He is God. Remember, He won't make us to do something or be someone . . . but He does greatly desire to lead us.
Yet, we sometimes treat our relationship with God as if it is one like a dictatorship or some kind of military commander in which we await our orders.
Is that why Jesus died on the cross . . . to obtain little minions or slaves here on earth?
I have heard from so many that they don't hear from God . . . or don't hear Him speak.
But is that because you're only looking in one place or one thing for Him?
I know many people who say that yet who are reading the scripture every day or attending church regularly.
The Pharisees in form the scriptures did this better than our common Christian today, yet Jesus said they missed it all completely . . . they missed Him.
So what is the disconnect here?
Do we think He is some Greek god who leaves us chasing omens and signs?
Sadly that mentality is pretty common in our westernized "Christian cultured" mindset.
How many times do we say, "Well, that must be a sign that God doesn't want me to do that."
Is He just incompetent in communicating clearly to us so He reverts to using signs and vagueness as if He can't speak clearly to us?
How He chooses to speak to us is His choice alone, but within the context that He does not play games with us nor does He choose to be unclear as if He has some sort of malfunctioning communicative ability.
Jesus died on the cross to give us life . . . but what does that even mean??
Let's think of our fall to sin in the garden as a severing from a connection with God with the most intimate nature, to commune and live amongst Him freely without anything hindering us.
Jesus dying on the cross was the necessary payment needed so that connection to God could be reestablished.
It is the new covenant we have now with God.
That's the life He offers. That in which we once lost we have back again.
So, knowing that, why would we assume that God speaks in riddles and plays with our heads like a bully?
We tend to look for God in all the wrong places and really what it comes down to is we make it harder than it actually is.
Here's what I mean.
We listen for the big words in the big signs and in the big movements.
In our human logic and default reasoning we think he is a big God so everything he does and says must be just big, big, and bigger!
But that's the kind of thinking that keeps us from God.
With that kind of mentality, we know we aren't big enough to actually have a friendship with God, or so we assume in certain moments of our own insecurities.
The enemy, the Devil knows this and so he sends lies that we would believe them and stay outside of the new covenant.
Our enemy can't stop the new covenant's power and authority through Jesus so he attempts to stop us from living through it they way it was meant to be lived and received fully.
If we were honest with ourselves we would all have to admit that we struggle with some sort of feelings of inadequacy when it comes to our relationship with God.
It's not even that we fear going to God or necessarily even afraid of Him at all. It's actually our own shortcomings and inadequacies and "smallness" that we dread . . . let alone want to face.
It seems "too good to be true" that God wants to be close to us with such an intimate caliber, yet, here we are staring the truth in the face that God actually wants that closeness with us nonetheless, unearned and undeserved.
But for this reason, we often take a stand in false humility, finding a place for ourselves as low as we think we deserve which unfortunately means keeping a certain distance form God.
How tragic it is that we would revert back to an old broken covenant with God when a new one has been bought and paid for at a great great price through Jesus.
We do that every time we distance ourselves from God because we don't feel worthy of Him.
There's a lot of "we"s in there and not a whole lot of what God did!
What does He think?!
What does He want for us?!
We have got to stop thinking for ourselves and start asking Him, "Father, what do You think about me?"
"I don't feel worthy but am I to You?"
"Where is my value in You and what does that look like, Father?"
How is all of that connected to How He speaks to us in simple ways and in the "smaller" every-day type of situations we may overlook?
If we know who we are, it must be because we are learning who He is.
Here's the thing though and please hear this because this is not just my opinion.
God is not too big for the small things.
Now I could throw probably about 100 scripture references that can back that up as truth but instead of assuming a defensive position, let us relax knowing that God is big enough to handle small things.
And that's good news for us considering typically the small things are about all we can handle at a time.
Let's take something simple like the principle the world God created is bound by. Nothing big ever just happens and comes from something else big.
Something big usually comes from many smaller workings that either build up to that big thing or that big thing is simply a culmination or a combination of many small things.
Look at a baby growing in its mother's womb. It doesn't just instantly come from the father's seed into a baby. It takes many cells all working together to eventually create a human being.
A tree isn't born from the ground a tree but starts as a seedling and over time and within the smallness of days and months grows into a much larger creation.
The Scriptures make it very clear that God cares and is involved in the details of our lives and not just in the big moments or big opportunities for big parts of them.
Jesus was not born in some royal palace when He was carried in the womb of a humble human woman and raised in a small obscure town.
I would say the smallness of Jesus' beginnings were paled in comparison and in no way a reflection of the enormity from the ripples He left from His time on this earth.
He did not choose men of highest nobility nor did he choose men even highly qualified on a large scale to follow him in the beginning of the most important ministry we will ever know.
Should I go on?
In just my life alone I have seen God work in the smallest of moments and smallest of opportunities that over the years have proved to lead to so much bigger and larger manifestations I could have never imagined on my own.
God loves to start small and end big.
He appreciates the beauty of detail and within details are always found small aspects often times overlooked.
When He speaks to us, and I promise He always is, He does so woven within the confounds of a simple moment or a small opportunity.
What is incredible is this too feeds our faith and fuels our character's growth to trusting those smaller things to have a much greater impact where they end up having their foot print.
So when I hear someone say something like this . . .
"God just isn't speaking to me"
"I am just not hearing God speak to me"
. . . I must . . . I have to rephrase that in my mind . . . to . . .
"I am just not accepting what it is God wants to show me"
"I am just not recognizing what it is He wants me to hear and know"
God sees such a big picture that he is not afraid of the small parts working to make that bigger picture happen.
I will say this . . . God does use seemingly "big" things . . . signs . . . and even mystery such as clues and hints . . . But it's typically because He is wanting to get our attention.
He does this only because He has to in order to gain our attention.
Trust me when I say this:
God wants to speak to us like a close friend, but often times He is forced to speak to us like a stranger making a first impression to get our undivided attention.
He ends up having to do those "big" things to get our attention on Him and His heart for us . . . But does that necessarily mean that's how He wants our relationship to be?
No!
Let me make something clear right now.
He does not play games with us.
Further more, He doesn't leave His children guessing what He wants or what He sees for us and the direction He wants us to head towards.
How silly it is for us to firstly assume that He must not be speaking to us.
Why don't we firstly assume instead that we are either not paying much attention to Him at all, or we just are not accepting what He has alreadycommunicated to us.
In fact, in times where I've known His silence and knew He wasn't answering me was simply because He already told me what He thought and wanted.
That was on me not wanting to hear what He told me . . . and He wasn't going to enable that stubbornness in me because He is also a loving father as well as a close friend.
Yes, we are that stubborn.
Is that really surprising?
Yes, we can be that hard-headed, believe it or not.
Does that mean He gives up on us?
He never does and never will, for He never has.
Stop looking farther than right here, right now to what He wants to speak to you about.
Stop looking around for some "big" moment when he wants to speak softly to you like a close friend in the small things.
He links the small things . . .
He links the small words together to create a much bigger picture so we can begin to understand more of who He is and more of who we are.
Before you are tempted to assume or even think that He isn't speaking any words to you . . .
Remember that He is working through those smaller things . . . linking those smaller words to something bigger.
Look for the small things . . .
Listen for the small words . . .
