TUNED IN

“Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all.” — Vincent van Gogh

We’ve been told that most communication is nonverbal. Yet our primary means of connection, email and text message, eliminate that element altogether (with the exception of emojis). The consequences of this contradiction can be found on any newsstand. If we’re this bad at it, we should ask ourselves, “How good is God at communicating?”

Well, let’s detail some of the ways that He communicates with us:

Through the Word, his very son Jesus, and all of his teachings.
Through creation and all the ways that God communicates to us through it.
Through the Holy Spirit, the Teacher, who lives inside every believer.
Through other people.
Through millions of experiences over the course of a lifetime.
Through family, and the many experiences therein.
Through writings and teachings.
Through various roles that we play over the course of a lifetime.
In dreams, which can sometimes be vibrant and emotional.
In many, many other ways.

In a way, God is constantly sending us signals and communications. He is a bit like a tall radio tower, ceaselessly emitting its messages over thousands of miles and to millions of people. He’s constantly teaching us truths about life, not the least of which would be the height and width and depth and breadth of His great love for us. In fact, I believe He would be satisfied if we simply would embrace that notion. Yet God went one step farther in creating our capacity for awareness of Him. In Jeremiah 31:31- 34, God promises, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.”

How can anything be more personal than that? God Himself writes His law in our minds and in our hearts and walks with us as the Word of the Lord did with the heroes of old. If we want a manual for life, we need look no farther than the scriptures, which were inspired by God Himself and profitable for every important thing that we do on Earth.

In answer to the earlier question, I would say that God is pretty good at communicating. He engages every sense. He reminds us every minute. He gets right down to the minutia. His messages never cease. We are permeated by them in every moment.

If God is like that powerful radio tower, then what are we?
What happens when the radio is mistuned?
How do I tune in my radio to the right frequency and leave it on, to listen without the distractions of life drawing my attention elsewhere?

Brad