How We Talk With God

How often do you converse with God?

Imagine a parent-child relationship where once a week, the child sang songs about the parent—"M-O-M-M-Y, you are the sun in my sky!"—and then attended lectures about the parent, listening to decipher what the parent really wanted: "I mustn't disturb Daddy right after he comes home from work; that will make him mad. Okay, I already do that. And I shouldn't talk too loudly or too happily about the fun I've had. He doesn't like kid games. Yes, I keep those to myself." 

Imagine that the only time that the child spoke to their parent was before each meal, and that was a simple thank you. Lastly, imagine that that child sometimes read letters the parent wrote to dear friends a long time ago, but often found them boring or tedious or irrelevant. 

If that was all the conversation a child had with their parent, how would you describe that relationship? Negligent and selfish, to say the least. In any case, you wouldn't say that that child loved their parent.

And yet, sometimes that is all we give God, especially when things are going well.

Under what circumstances do you talk to God?

Imagine a married couple who only spoke when distressed or angry or hurt or in the right mood. Imagine these rare communications went something like this:

"Please, please, please, can you just fix that sprinkler? Our grass is dying out there and it's driving me crazy. I need you to do it. Okay, I'll talk to you when it's done, but if you don't do it, I'm not surprised. You don't really do things for me anyways." 

Or: "I'm sure you have your own way of doing it, but I really think you ought to arrange things like this. That's how I would do it and it seems like the best way."

Or: "Why did you plan that meeting at that time? That's when I was going to go out with my friends. Now who will watch the children! You never think of me and what I want. Do you?"

Or: "Oh isn't it a lovely day where everything seems to be going right! You're great!"

How would you describe that sort of relationship? It sounds like a parent-child relationship rather than a husband-wife one, and an unhealthy one at that. Sounds demanding and selfish, to say the least. In any case, they don't love and respect one another.

And yet, sometimes how we speak to God fluctuates based on how well we think our life is going.

How do you listen to God?

Imagine a boss-employee relationship where the employee's primarily aim was to keep the boss happy. See, the employee once heard how the boss fired everyone in his office, so the employee is terribly afraid of making the boss mad and being fired. So the employee listens attentively to everything the boss says and tries to follow it to a tee. The employee waits on the boss and is the first to obey in all things.

How do you suppose that boss feels about his employee? He probably feels his employee was putting on a show and being fake.

And yet don't we often handle our relationship with God like this? Aren't we afraid of his disapproval? Don't we fear him "messing things up"? Don't we ignore him or only tell him our wants?

God commands that we love him with all our heart, soul, and mind, and yet, do we speak to him as if we loved him? 

How We Can Openly Communicate Anyways:

Don't shame yourself. I will tell you why. Our sinful hearts are naturally afraid of God because intimacy with him means the death of our sinful hearts. He is like a great burning fire and if we talk with him, he will start burning away all the flimflam that we like to surround ourselves with: the busyness and distractions and numbing-agents and lies about being just fine. It will be uncomfortable and probably hurt. 

But it won't destroy us. And we needn't fear his disapproval because God looks at what we're doing, he sees it through Christ's payment. It's like Christ already paid all the fines for the crimes we were ever going to commit against God. There's no sin so bad that Christ didn't cover it, even poor communication with God.

It is good to converse with God often about everything, and to listen for his answer because that is how eternity with God starts.