Wouldn't that be great!, he said with excitement.
We had just finished putting up the Christmas tree, eating dinner and watching a Max Lucado video about Christmas. Throughout the video the bug, cartoon characters (Hermie and friends) have multiple conversations with God. They speak to God and He speaks back to them in a sweet, strong voice. As the video came to a close and the credits began rolling, a thought that had been rambling in his mind came out of my 7 year old son's mouth with a blurt, "Oh! Wouldn't that be great if we could just talk to God like that and God would talk back!" Strangely enough, I had had a similar train-of-thought bouncing in my head throughout the video.
The thoughtless and immediate, almost palatable, group response to my son's statement was, "Yes! That would be sooo cool!" And then there was a second internal "stop" in my spirit as I "yes!-responded" with my mouth. Wait a minute! Can't we talk to God like that and hear from Him?! Isn't that what we see throughout Scripture? Isn't that what a relationship with God is? ...Speaking with Him, hearing from Him, interacting with Him? Isn't that why I wake so early on these cold, dark mornings to sit before Him? Wait a minute! Yes! We can. I can. I do.
I turned to my son in a third, now verbal, response and put my hand gently on his face. "Oh, but son, we can! We can talk to God that way and He does respond", I said. The look on his face was priceless. His look was a mix of hope and doubt... His look was, "Really!" and "Really?" all mixed up. My husband chimed in and agreed with my statement of assurance that we could have a vibrant, interactive, conversational relationship with God. It was a sweet moment. This isn't the first time we have had this discussion with our son... but worth a re-visit in that teachable moment.
We revisited the topic after church today. As we ate lunch we all four discussed how God speaks, how we know it is Him, and what His voice sounds like. We all were able to share moments of hearing from God. My son shared that as he has been reading in Exodus lately, he has been struck with how much faith Moses must have had in God. He shared that while reading it he has beenfeeling like he needed to grow in his own faith and trust of God. Was this God speaking? he ventured. Yes! We all agreed.
I shared that sometimes when reading a passage of the Bible, a word or a phrase would just jump off the page and touch my heart. I shared that sometimes it was encouraging and sometimes it was convicting. Was this God speaking? Yes! We all agreed.
My daughter shared that sometimes when she is singing a song about the Lord, she is filled up with so much joy she will burst. Is this God speaking? Yes! We all agreed.
My husband said when he asks God what he should be studying or preaching that a certain verse or a certain passage of the Scripture comes to mind. Is this God speaking? Yes! We all agreed.
On and on went the discussion... talk of another person's words being used as the "voice" of God, the absence of fear or the physical presence of peace, or that small voice where you know the right or wrong way, or that "must" feeling of prayer for someone. What a joy this discussion was to my soul!
This is the Christmas story come to my home. The Immanuel that was promised in Isaiah came to earth as a baby. And, He lives in our home with us. God with us! Wouldn't it be great if we could walk with God, if we could talk with God, if we could hear Him talk with us!?!! Oh! Wouldn't that be great!!
Father, may we hear you more. You say Let he that have an ear hear what the Spirit says... let me hear you and see you more, Lord. You are God with us! You never leave us and you have given us your Spirit to guide us, to remind us of all truth. May I abide in you and walk in you and live in you today.
