Mr. Bash

I remember watching my good ol’ friend, Mr. Bash, stare at his telephone for an approximately good ten minutes. If you ask me, that’s a pretty long time, considering the fact that the object of his attention was a black boring electronic device and that he, Bash, stared with an eerie fixation in the presence of an intrigued me, seated alongside with him in a quiet room – except for the sounds of the whirling fan and the ticking clock.

We were in his sitting room, and from across where I sat I had a good view to tell, with good authority, that the communicating machine was not the slightest bit interesting, like ringing off the hook – in fact, it was obviously the blandest piece of equipment in the room. But, eventually, it all made sense when Bash looked up at me and asked, quite directly, “How come I never hear from God?” BAM!

Now, I can’t really say if the dude actually expected God to ring him up at that particular time via his telephone. And I don’t know if God would have communicated in such a way, but seeing all things are possible with God, who knows, He could have done it, with a sense of humour. However, there’s one thing I know, I can empathize and relate with Bash’s desperation over not being able to hear from God. 

I know it does suck to have just a one–way connection to the throne of grace and not have an actual exchange. You seemingly find yourself praying and not getting a reply.

It sucks even more to hear people close to you say that the Father speaks expressly to them – giving them guidance, encouragements, and even filling their hearts with the knowledge of His will, when you on the other hand hear nothing but zilch.

Yeah, I have been there. I have been under such gratuitous religious pressure – feeling I needed to be like the brothers–and–sisters–in–the–Lord who, on every Sunday, never failed to let me know how spiritual they were by telling how they had, just the day before, heard from the same God and Father of us all.

Obviously, it isn’t unthinkable to want to hear from God, everyone should.  And as we might all rightly wonder, isn’t that also part of what it means to be a member of the Family, in which God is the Father and we His kids?

Well, consequently, by grace so amazing, I later found out along the road how simple and straightforward God is about our interaction with Him. I found the key and it had nothing to do precisely with the peculiar cases in which God speaks in an audible voice, like in the days of the Prophets and Paul the Apostle. 

Although today, some do claim to have heard God speak to them clear and distinctly like in the Bible days, the point is, as Selwyn Hughes put it succinctly in his work on prayer, they are “the exceptions rather than the rule”. For the chief, principal, foremost, and main way that God speaks to us is through Scripture.

So therein lies the answer to Bash’s question, or if you will, the way to God’s voice. We could have regular and beautiful communion with our God, anytime of the day; and categorically there’s no reason, under heaven, why we shouldn’t revel in such divine blessedness. All we need do is come to the understanding that the main and very easy way to hear from the Mighty One is through His Word that He’s given us already. 

And to achieve this, we would only have to ask in faith that He speaks to us, and He will speak, for He wants to. Our part is just to ask in faith and wait with expectation as we look intently into the Living Word to hear the very voice of God ring out from within the pages. And to be sure, our spirit will confirm that we have indeed heard from Him who loves us unreservedly; for He too longs to have fellowship with us, His children. So, He will speak. I promise.