Why Does God Speak To Us?

November 15

~ Today’s Scripture Art and mini Bible study were designed to get us digging in God’s Word to learn why God speaks to us. ~

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The Bible tells us that God has spoken in many different ways.

Would you like a burning bush?

Exodus 3:3-4 (CSB): So Moses thought, “I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered.

Or a donkey?

Numbers 22:28 (ESV): Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”

How about thunder?

2 Samuel 22:14 (ESV): The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice.

Or maybe you would prefer a whisper?

1 Kings 19:12 (CSB): After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper.

Or a vision?

Acts 18:9 (ESV): And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent,

We could go on. But how He speaks is a study for another day.

The point is: we know God speaks.

And how He speaks doesn’t affect today’s question, which is …

Why Does God Speak To Us?

The four verses in today’s God Speaks Bundle were chosen in a unique way. You see, these “favorite verses” were given to me by 4 separate readers at 4 totally different times during the past year. When I sat down to hand-letter their favorite verses, it dawned on me that all of these were about God speaking! {I love that about you guys!}

So I started digging. I decided to put them together in a bundle and then I went hunting to see what they had in common. I had a feeling God had something for me – and you – to learn. There was no way these verses came together by coincidence – and I didn’t want to miss what God had for me.

First, I read the whole chapter around each verse.

Ever feel like you were searching for something – and you were close – but not quite getting it? I had to laugh when I came across …

John 6:60 (NLT): Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?”

That was just a couple of verses before the first reader favorite …

John 6:63 (ESV): It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

Obviously, my hunting (my flesh) was no help at all.

Maybe I just needed the second reader favorite …

Jeremiah 33:3 (ESV): Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

So I called to Him. I asked Him to show me the great and hidden thing He surely had for me.

Still nothing.

So I moved on to the third reader favorite …

Psalm 143:8 (ESV): Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

Maybe I needed to lift up my soul. Humble myself.

And there in that same chapter was verse 5 …

Psalm 143:5 (ESV): I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.

And the Lord brought to mind what He had taught me back in February.

He reminded me how I tend to act like Moses standing before the burning bush.

When charged by the vision of God to go to Pharaoh and demand release of the captives, Moses had a bunch of me-me-me questions …

Exodus 3:11 (ESV): “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

God responded by patiently making Himself the subject of the narrative …

Exodus 3:12 (ESV): “But I will be with you.”

Moses didn’t quite get it either because then he asked, “What should I do?”

And again, rather than telling Moses what he should do, God told him what He had done, what He was doing, and what He will do.

It was time to make God the subject of my search – rather than some instruction I could pass on to you.

God spoke to Moses to turn the focus back on Him.

Exodus 3:14-15 (ESV): God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Jen Wilkin explains in her book Women of the Word, “The Bible does tell us who we are and what we should do, but it does so through the lens of who God is. … So when I read that God is longsuffering, I realize that I am not longsuffering. When I read that God is slow to anger, I realize that I am quick to anger. Seeing who He is shows me who I am in a true light. A vision of God high and lifted up reveals to me my sin and increases my love for Him. Grief and love lead to genuine repentance, and I begin to be conformed to the image of the One I behold.”

So back to the question – why does God speak to us?

Enter the fourth reader-favorite …

Isaiah 55:11 (ESV): So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

God speaks to us so it will accomplish His purposes.

And what are His ultimate purposes?

Just keep on reading after verse 11 …

Isaiah 55:12-13 (ESV): “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

To turn the focus back to Him.