Day 19 – Why Does God Speak
As you begin to spend time with God, settle yourself somewhere quiet and comfortable. Take a few deep breaths. Spend a few moments gathering your thoughts, becoming aware of God’s presence with you and in you.
Journal for 5 minutes on yesterday’s reflection that God speaks. What did you think about and learn. What challenged you? Did God say anything to you throughout the day?
Then, begin today’s devotional.
Read: Genesis 1:27-28
So God created man
in his own image;
he created him in the image of God;
he created them male and female.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
When my children were born, my wife had a very natural and physical connection with them. She had carried them in the womb for nine months, and after their birth, she nursed them and cared for them in a way I could not fully imitate. I loved them and cared for them also, but I longed for the age in which they would be able to communicate verbally. I am a “word guy,” and talking is my natural mode. When they learned to speak, our relationship entered a totally transformed mode.
God is a “word guy” too, so to speak. At the heart of the Trinity is the Word, who would become incarnate in Jesus Christ. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are constantly presented in the Scriptures as communicating through words with humanity. In Genesis 1:27-28, we see that after creating humanity in God’s own image, male and female, God immediately speaks to them. The speech is a blessing, and the blessing is a mission, an invitation to join God in the great creational purpose of establishing a thriving human race to make glad the heart of God.
Why does God speak to us? God speaks because it is God’s nature to speak. He created the world and all that is in it by speaking. By the power of God’s Word, human beings were created to express God’s image and carry out God’s rule in all of creation. And God blessed us with a missional purpose to give our lives meaning. God speaks because God cannot remain silent.
In the same way I longed to speak to my infant children, God wants to speak to us and be heard by us. I have learned that the more we listen, the more God will speak.
Prayer:
O God who is with us and is not silent, tune our ears to hear Your voice. We yield our will to You that we may obey You and show You that You do not speak to us in vain. May Your perfect will be done in us as it is in Heaven, because we have learned to hear Your voice and follow Your leading.
Journal:
Take a few moments to journal through the following question(s).
As children, we don’t know as much vocabulary and can’t communicate as well verbally as we can as adults. If you were to give yourself an “age” in terms of your ability to communicate with God, what age would you give yourself? Remember, this isn’t a condemnation – just an honest assessment.
Where would you like to grow in terms of communication with Him? Vocabulary? Speaking to Him? Hearing from Him? Understanding Him?
Read today’s text and consider what God spoke to the first human beings. Consider the command to be fruitful, to fill the earth, and to rule over it in terms of your life today. Let God speak to you about how you fit into the mission of God on earth, and write those words down.
Today’s Practice:
Find someone today to talk to about your experience of hearing God’s voice. Ask them questions and seek to learn the ways in which they hear God. Share your experience with them as well. Encourage one another in your pursuit of God’s presence and voice.
By Joseph Castleberry, President