21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her… (Gen. 25:21-23 ESV)
- Rebekah has an experience that she doesn’t understand.
- So she inquires of the Lord.
- And the Lord speaks to her.
It’s a simple sequence. Often, however, we don’t get to step #2 – we don’t talk to God about the experiences in life we don’t understand. We talk to friends or family about them. But we don’t talk to the Father about them.
Even more often, we don’t enjoy the blessings of step #3 – we don’t nurture a relationship with God in which he speaks to us just as we speak to him. Communication is all one-way.
Yet, as Dallas Willard writes in Hearing God, the weight of the biblical testimony is that this is the type of relationship God seeks to form with each of us. We’ve been created for conversation with God. Just because we do not hear him speaking to us does not mean he is not speaking. It may simply mean we have not developed the heart and the ears necessary to hear that “still, small voice” by which God so commonly communicates. Rebekah models what is normal in spirituality–talking to God and God talking back.
Take time today to talk to God, and to listen. He just may have something to say.
Prayer: Thank you Father for always being there when I have something to tell you. Help me to develop the ears to hear what you have to tell me in response.
Action Step: Take ten minutes in silence after a time of prayer. Just sit quietly. What might God be telling you?
