Transcript:

Hello. This is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church of Hanover, NH. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

An atheist once said to me, if God is real, why doesn’t He reveal Himself? Why doesn’t He say something? If He really wants us to know Him, why doesn’t He just say so? Good question, right?

Well, maybe not. Maybe there is a false assumption underlying this. For true communication to take place, you must have both a sender and a receiver. You need someone sending a clear message, but you also need someone willing to receive that message on the other end. Both are necessary.

In relationships, this is no mere academic question. Lack of listening is often at the very heart of relational breakdown in many marriages and friendships. Listening is critical!

Now, allow me to propose a question. Could it be that God is sending a clear message, but for whatever reason we are not truly listening? God says of Himself in Isaiah 45:19 (emphasis added) “I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness….” In Psalm 19, the poet says that the heavens are declaring the glory of God, that the whole universe is pouring forth the speech of God. In Romans 1, the Apostle Paul suggests that human beings have a bad tendency of “suppressing the truth” of God, despite God having made Himself quite evident, quite obvious!

So, is God guilty of not speaking clearly or is humanity guilty of not listening well? As for myself, I’d hate to lay the blame at the feet of God.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“For this is what the Lord says, He who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it as a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited):

I am the Lord, and there is no one else.

I have not spoken in secret,

In some dark land;

I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,

‘Seek Me in a wasteland’;

I, the Lord, speak righteousness,

Declaring things that are right.”

~Isaiah 45:18-19 (NASB)