Have you ever had an "I done goofed" moment with God? I did, just this morning! But I'll get to that in a minute.
Years ago, I was trying to explain to an Azerbaijani friend my concept of the truth about God being multifaceted. What I mean by that, is that different sets of believers get one aspect, one doctrine, one understanding about God REALLY right, and they focus on that. Other groups get a different aspect REALLY right. Sometimes they don't agree! But I think of it as a diamond ring, with all the beautiful facets of the different groups of believers shining. They don't all agree on everything, but they reflect His Glory when His light shines on them. My friend listened to my explanation, then used her somewhat limited English vocabulary (English was her THIRD language,) to say in response, "God is very colorful." I LOVE that!!!
One of the ways God is COLORFUL is the myriad of ways he talks to his kids. God speaks most often and most clearly through his written revealed Word, the Bible. But He certainly doesn't limit himself to just that. And it's a good thing for us too! Some of the other ways God communicates, in no particular order:
-Angels
-Dreams
-Impressions (a "knowing")
-Audible voice
-Non-Audible voice, but you KNOW it is God talking to you
-Visions (moving images, like watching a movie)
-Images/Pictures
This is by no means an exhaustive list. (God spoke to Balaam through the mouth of Balaam's donkey! Numbers 22:28.) Sometimes I will be praying about something and God will bring a song to mind or start playing the song in my head-- sometimes a song I am barely familiar with-- but the lyrics will contain His answer to what I was just praying about. God can communicate with any of us at anytime. And really, you don't even need to be a believer! God warned Pharoah in Egypt through dreams of a coming famine, and warned King Nebuchadezzar about future world events through a dream, as well as God's pending judgment on him if he didn't repent. And God revealed his coming judgment to King Belshazzar (Daniel 5) by a man's hand, writing on the plaster wall of his banquet hall, right in the middle of a great feast! So embarrassing, for him! He died that night when the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon in a surprise attack, so I guess it didn't matter for long.
With me personally, God most often communicates through scripture, rarely through dreams, sometimes through impressions, sometimes through visions, sometimes through non-audible voice, but quite often through images. Pictures, if you will, in my mind's eye. And the proper response to seeing something like that when you're praying is to ask, "God, what does this mean?"
The Bible is full of examples of God showing his follower something, and then asking the follower, "What do you see?" Here is a sampling:
The word of the LORD came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?"
"I see the branch of an almond tree, "I replied. The LORD said to me, "You have seen correctly, for I am WATCHING to see that my word is fulfilled."
-Jeremiah 1:11-12
The translator's note in my Bible says that the Hebrew for "watching" sounds like the Hebrew for "almond tree." God was giving Jeremiah a visual puzzle. And then God explained it. God likes Puns!!! Here's another example:
Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me, as a man is wakened from his sleep. He asked me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl on the top and seven lights on it..."
-Zechariah 4:1-2
After the prophet said what he saw, he prudently asked the important question:
I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" He answered, "Do you not know what these are?" "No, my lord," I replied. So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.
-Zechariah 4:4-6
I'm not going to get into the symbolism of the gold lampstand in the above passage today because- honestly?- I don't understand it. And God's message to Zerubbabel is certainly applicable to our lives today. What a passage! But instead, I want to point out that Zechariah was always asking the question, "What does this mean, God?" in response to what God had just shown him. (Zechariah 1:9, 1:19, 2:2, 5:6, 6:4.) You see, that's the proper response when you think God is showing you something. You ask, "God, what does this mean?" And then you wait...
Did I mention I did a dumb? Early this morning, around 4:30, I couldn't sleep and was praying. God showed me some things. But one of the things he showed me was my triple axle equipment trailer, with the front left wheel shredded. But because God had used this imagery with me once in the past, I just assumed I knew why He was showing me this, and I moved on. I did NOT ask the all important question, "God, what does this mean?"
It turns out, about an hour later we had a mishap in Virginia. My employees were moving a skid-steer on that trailer and that tire rolled off on the highway. Because it was shredded... We had to hire someone to move the machine, and now repairs will require an expensive new axle, AND we didn't get started unloading the 52' flatbed truck until 1:00 pm instead of 8:00 am like we needed to. So now the truck driver is angry and the marina where we are unloading is angry because there is NO CHANCE of us being finished and out of there today with this huge dock, as was our agreement.
I believe God was trying to warn me that the trailer wheel was bad off. God was doing me a solid, and I missed it. Because I didn't follow up. God was wanting to talk to me. He gave me a picture of a problem, without an explanation. Why? Because he wanted dialogue. He wanted me to press in. To talk to him. Instead, I essentially said "Cool," and went back to sleep. My day might have gone so much better if I had grasped that opportunity to talk to God about that trailer. So don't be like me. Don't do a Dumb. Ask the question.
"God, what does this mean?"
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