The Scriptures, the Word of God, go hand-in-hand with prayer. It is the very Word of God that awakens us to him. From the beginning, we can see he spoke the world into existence. When we speak our creative ideas, we have to add physical actions to create things. However, when God spoke, his words created what he spoke. His Word alone has the power of the action built right into it.
As he communicates to us who he is through his Word, he is signaling to us a desire for a conversation. He speaks to us, and we respond with our words in prayer. The dialogue begins. He is the creator of language. Like little children learning from their parents, the very early syllables of language begin to form. At first, there may be awkward grunts, or indiscernible stutters. But, the more we read the Word, thus hear him speak, we learn, little by little, how to tell him how we feel. We ask him questions—why, how come, when, etc.? And, like many parents in the toddler stages, he tells us the simplest of answers because we are not yet ready to understand.
In time, as we listen, his words powerfully bring about growth. As a well-fed child nurtured and loved cannot stay a toddler for long, so too the one who listens with attentive ears cannot help but express a more nuanced way of asking for a deeper understanding of the One who speaks.
Behind these words of his is a living Person. God is not some unknowable spirit beyond in the sky. We aren’t just throwing up a few desperate words into the air like some rabbits foot of luck and hope.
His Word informs us of his love for us. We clearly see that love in the gospels as his Son Jesus became the sacrifice for all the sin of this broken world. His sacrifice opened the door for his Holy Spirit to begin that dialogue in our hearts.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-5;14.
He is speaking to us, and he wants us to speak back! He created us for that… for his pleasure and joy. When we begin to understand this, as he has made clear in his Word, then we begin to experience this very joy for which we were made. We’re not going to understand everything, life will still have its difficulties, but we will always have our Father’s tender ear, bent down low to hear our thoughts from any given day.
We were meant to be simpatico. He speaks to our hearts and minds for us to hear and understand. And as we respond with love and thankfulness and yes, with questions still, we are deeply-rooted, safeguarded by the truth and comfort of his Word.
Peace
