Talking To God

 

"And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend" Exodus 33:11

Sooner or later in life, God lets us know that we need to have a conversation with someone that we would rather do anything else than have. The Holy Spirit will not leave us alone until we have it, but when we do we are the better person for it. 

Yet there is one person who is always available, with whom we should have the sweetest fellowship: one who can meet all of our needs and who knows us completely, and who invites us always to talk with him (see 1 Thessalonians 5:17) - and yet we avoid Him constantly. 

Maybe this isn't you, but speaking for myself, sometimes prayer is a last resort. I tend to look for "formulas" to make me a more spiritual Christian: books, bible reading - all great things to be sure, but they point to the One with Whom we are to have an intimate relationship.

Why do some of us avoid prayer? I think part of the reason goes back to what I talked about before: we're afraid God will ask us to do something we don't want to, like talk to that person! Another reason is that, while God knowing us completely is a wonderful thing, it's also a double-edged sword: maybe we don't want to know ourselves! While God's Word acts as a mirror to reveal our true condition, standing in the unfiltered presence of God is like an "objects in mirror are closer than they appear" mirror!

The two reasons I gave are, of course, part of the strategy Satan deceives us by, because above all things, he is opposed to God's people truly being in prayerful fellowship with Him. Therefore he (Satan) will use all his dirty tricks to get us out of prayer. Let us examine closer the two reasons I gave for why we don't pray:

1) Fear of what God will "make us do". Fear is Satan's "wheelhouse" tactic. Although Job was righteous in all his ways before his trials, the bible indicates his devotion was based out of fear rather than trust (see Job 1:5), suggesting that Satan had a stronghold of fear in his heart already. Friends, you may have heard it before, but God will not ask you to do anything that He will not accomplish through you! (see Ephesians 2:10). If we are fearing he will "make us do something", our relationship is still that of a slave rather than a son (see Galatians 4:7).

2) Fear of seeing ourselves as we really are. Satan loves nothing more to whisper his lies that we are "not so bad", and "better than others". To come to God through the Cross requires complete humility: to place oneself on the same level as the worst people in history. As long as we think we have something good to offer from our old sinful nature, full communion with God will not be possible(see Galatians 6:3).  "Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling" (A.M. Toplady).

May we always humbly see ourselves as we are: sons and daughters of the Almighty God, and run to the "throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16) as often as we can, talking to God as Moses did: face to face as a friend.