I’ll be the first to admit that I have little patience with people who do not return my phone calls … or my texts … or my emails. I’d just as soon delete them from my contacts and spend my time calling people who want to talk to me.
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days God has spoken to us by God’s Son … appointed heir of all things, and through whom God made the universe. – Hebrews 1:1-2 (NIV)
But thank God, I’m not God. All of human history is an attempt, at God’s initiative, to enter into a dialogue of covenantal relationship with humanity. The biblical record is replete with the records of countless attempts by God to dialogue with us in our searching, in our desperation, and even in our despair.
But our lines have been busy with vain pursuits. Our ears have been shut by the clamor of hectic lives. We’ve been too preoccupied with the pursuit of personal agendas to answer or return or even pay attention to God’s call.
The records in the Bible tell us that even when God sent the prophets as messengers to engage us, we ignored them, rejected them, and killed more than a few of them.
You’d think all that would be enough for God to completely cut off all communication with us and leave us to languish in the empty splendor of our self-centeredness.
But just when we’d expect God to scrap the covenant with humanity and cease all efforts to reconcile with us, God cleared God’s voice and spoke a Word of Everlasting Love – a Word wrapped up in flesh and named Jesus – that has been resounding around the world for over 2,000 years now and still counting.
God is still speaking. And after so many attempts, I hear God saying, “Can you hear me now?”
Prayer
Gracious God, you speak emphatically, definitively and lovingly through your Son Jesus, the Christ. We are not too busy or too preoccupied. We hear you now. Amen.
About the Author
Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Decatur, Georgia.