He's speaking your language

Psalm 139:1-4

I remember one Sunday, years ago, being in church with my cousin when the Pastor cried out "Can't you just feel the presence of God in this place!" To which my cousin ardently replied "No!" Though I wouldn't have said it with as much conviction, or even aloud for that matter, I had to agree, I just didn't feel it. This bothered me. I thought maybe I wasn't spiritual enough, or maybe something was missing that was preventing me from experiencing God on that level. I couldn't understand it, nor did I for quite some time. Now, I would like to say that it was many years spent in study of God's word, or hours spent in prayer that finally opened my eyes. However, in reality, it was my four-year-old son. When my son was born, my wife and I had decided that we were going to raise him bilingual. To do this my wife speaks to him in Chinese, and I speak to him in English. One day my son said something to my wife that I didn't quite understand (probably because I don't speak Chinese). Therefore, I asked her the natural, and often uttered, question, "What did he just say?" That’s when it hit me, he wasn't speaking to me; he was speaking to his mother. When my son speaks to my wife, he speaks in a way that she understands, and when he speaks to me, he speaks in a way that I understand. He knows us; and whether he means to or not, my son communicates to each of us in a manner fitting our ability to understand him. Likewise, and even more so, God knows us, and therefore, speaks to each of us in a manner fitting our ability to understand Him. For some, it may be through signs and wonders, while for others it may be nothing more than a soft word from a loving brother. The God, who knows your every thought, even before it is upon your tongue, knows how to get your attention. David cried, "O lord, you have searched me, and known me. You know my sitting down and mine rising up, you understand my thought far off. You compass my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, you know it altogether (Psalm 139:1-4)." God knows us through and through. Thus, He is the ultimate translator and supreme interpreter in communicating His will for our life. It's not that I wasn't spiritual, or that I had not reached some super-natural plateau in my walk with God. It was, perhaps, that He simply wasn't speaking to me. Maybe He was trying to get my attention through the one to whom He was speaking. Maybe that’s why the Pastor was standing in front of the pews while I was sitting in them. The Pastor was all the signs and wonders I needed at that moment. I didn't need to feel God; I needed to hear God, and He was speaking just my language. For this reason, we need to remember that the same God who shakes the heavens and the earth is the same God who can be found in a gentle breeze. The same God who commands us to pick up our cross daily is the same God who calls us to lie down in green pastures. He spoke to Moses from a bush, but wrestled Jacob face to face. He fed thousands with two fish, yet picked wheat to feed his own. He is the God of both big and small; He is the God of all. As a result, some Christians see miracles in everything they do, while other Christians never see them at all. God communicates to everyone in His, and their, own way. For Moses, God parted the Red Sea, but Peter walked on water. Jesus healed the leper, yet Paul kept his thorn. No matter whom you are, plain or grand, rich or poor; God has His unique way of interacting in your life. Therefore, if you never see the handwriting upon your wall, or have a donkey rebuke you for your actions, never fret. God is speaking your language, and it might just be that He has other ways of getting your attention.  [mp]

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Michael D'Urbano
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