God is Chatty

For most of my life I envisioned God as being secretive, especially God the Father. I pictured him like a kind of distant dad who sits on his throne and watches everything, but never really says much. I also suspected that every now and then he snaps and rants and prepares to destroy every single one of us. Luckily Jesus steps in and talks him out of it every time.

Anyway, I don’t know where this image in my mind came from, my earthly father is not that way. But for whatever reason I have had this image of God. A few years ago that whole image got severely disrupted by a simple revelation: God is chatty!

If you do not believe me just take a look at the bible. It turns out that there is always lots of stuff going on in heaven, including a ton of conversations. He has some cosmic divine council that he is always consulting.

For example, in the creation account God suddenly says, “Lets make man in our image” (Gen. 1:26). Who is he talking to? And when God comes down to judge Sodom and Gomorrah he decides to stop for a snack at Abraham’s place. You know, just to talk a bit. And when he is about to leave he says to those that are with him, “Can I really walk out of here and not tell Abraham what we’re up to?” (see Gen 18:17). Isaiah ends up in heaven and God is talking (of course), and he says, “So, who should we send to do this thing?” (see Isa. 6:8). Similarly, the prophet Michaiah witnessed God consulting with his council in heaven on who they might get to trick Ahab into engaging in a battle that would take his life (1 Kings 22:1-28). Amos says that God will not do anything (that’s right, not one thing) without revealing it to his prophets (Amos 3:7).

Once I looked at the evidence I finally realized that God loves to chat. He loves to tell people what he is up to. God loves to reveal himself to his creation and in his creation. He loves to relate to us, and let us in on everything. He never revealed himself any more clearly, any more beautifully, he never spoke more loudly than he did in the supreme and ultimate statement: Jesus Christ.

Yes, there are seasons when God seems silent. There is a purpose for those seasons, even though we may not understand it. However, we often think that God is silent when he is actually talking nonstop. Perhaps our ears are not tuned in to the right frequency. Perhaps the clamoring noise of earthly worries have kept us from hearing his sometimes still, small voice. Or perhaps you are like me, and haven’t learned to listen because you assume God simply doesn’t like to talk that much. The truth is that God loves to talk with you. Take the time to see if he is up for a chat right now, you might be surprised at what you hear.