The other day I was talking with a friend about a decision I’ve been wrestling with and he asked me a question, half joking, half not. He asked, "Do you think God is a bad communicator?" I laughed, because it's a funny way to put it. But I understood exactly what he meant.
I want the burning bush. The audible voice. The unmistakable sign that leaves no room for
doubt. Tell me clearly what to do and I'll go. That seems like a reasonable request to me. And yet that's almost never how it actually works. Most days I'm left with a quiet nudge, a verse that catches me sideways, a conversation that lingers longer than it should. Nothing I could point to and say, that settles it.
So, is He bad at this?
I don't think so, but I also don't think the question is dumb. It's the question of anyone who has ever prayed hard for direction and gotten silence, or something close to it.
Here's what I've come to instead. I think we assume communication is mainly about information transfer. God tells me the plan, I execute the plan, we move on. But that's not really what most of Scripture shows us. When Elijah stood on the mountain expecting God in the wind, the earthquake, the fire, God wasn't in any of them. He came in a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:12). Not because He couldn't have shown up louder. Because Elijah needed something other than volume. He needed his heart met, not just his question answered.
Maybe that's closer to what's happening with us too. Maybe God isn't withholding clarity to
frustrate us. Maybe He's after something slower and deeper than clarity, a heart that trusts Him even in the not knowing. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding (Proverbs 3:5). That's not a verse about getting the plan. It's a verse about who we become while we wait for it.
I still want the audible voice some days. I'm not going to pretend that longing goes away just because I understand the theology a little better. But I'm starting to believe the quiet isn't God failing to communicate. It might be Him communicating something we weren't expecting to hear.
peace,
Nick
I want the burning bush. The audible voice. The unmistakable sign that leaves no room for
doubt. Tell me clearly what to do and I'll go. That seems like a reasonable request to me. And yet that's almost never how it actually works. Most days I'm left with a quiet nudge, a verse that catches me sideways, a conversation that lingers longer than it should. Nothing I could point to and say, that settles it.
So, is He bad at this?
I don't think so, but I also don't think the question is dumb. It's the question of anyone who has ever prayed hard for direction and gotten silence, or something close to it.
Here's what I've come to instead. I think we assume communication is mainly about information transfer. God tells me the plan, I execute the plan, we move on. But that's not really what most of Scripture shows us. When Elijah stood on the mountain expecting God in the wind, the earthquake, the fire, God wasn't in any of them. He came in a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:12). Not because He couldn't have shown up louder. Because Elijah needed something other than volume. He needed his heart met, not just his question answered.
Maybe that's closer to what's happening with us too. Maybe God isn't withholding clarity to
frustrate us. Maybe He's after something slower and deeper than clarity, a heart that trusts Him even in the not knowing. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding (Proverbs 3:5). That's not a verse about getting the plan. It's a verse about who we become while we wait for it.
I still want the audible voice some days. I'm not going to pretend that longing goes away just because I understand the theology a little better. But I'm starting to believe the quiet isn't God failing to communicate. It might be Him communicating something we weren't expecting to hear.
peace,
Nick