Many Times and Many Ways - Part 1

The universe is not silent. Stars send forth heralded light. Galaxies sparkle speak. The Milky Way shimmers speaking. The planets tilt and swing in voice. Someone said that the worst moment for an atheist is when he feels gratitude and has no one to thank. For some, dark loneliness burdens and bears down. No one. No why. Dark. Sirius, Orion, and Taurus smile down at me—I hear. I see. The

heavens declare the glory of God. They show forth his character—a communicative God who speaks.

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our father by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…” (Hebrews 1:1-2a).

In the dark, confusion, uncertainty. We long to hear God’s voice, know he is speaking, know he is guiding. Too many paths in front of us, and all are dim. Anxiety chokes, like the rising fog after sundown. The stakes seem high. Decisions weigh. Mistakes loom large in the shadows.

But “at many times and in many ways, God spoke…” This is our God, a communicative God. Feel lost? Alone? Look above the darkness, the light shines! Not a one-dimensional, nor rote, nor hide-and-seek, nor jump-through-the-hoops, or one-way-only God, he speaks in many times, many ways. Many—he wants to be known! He wants to be heard! Any way to get his people to listen—walking in the Garden (Gen. 3), through an angel-wrestling match, a burning bush, a smoky mountain, a tabernacle and temple, a donkey and a reluctant Balaam, a still small whisper, through the marriage of a prostitute, to the poems of the prophets. He spoke to the hard of hearing, the hard of heart, the blind—one only has to read Isaiah to know how much he longs and can speak to his people! To one lost and confused speck underneath the arching immense heavens, he comes in a way tailored to him or her.

“I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;

    I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.

I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’

    to a nation that was not called by my name.

I spread out my hands all the day

    to a rebellious people…” (Isaiah 65:1-2).

And now, in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. The Jews treasured the prophets—the very voice of God. On this side of the Old Testament, it is hard to appreciate what the prophets signified to the Jews (Rom. 9:4-5). Yet, here the author is saying—something better than the prophets! Something better than this treasure! It’s like something better, superior to the Declaration of Independence to a stanch American. Or something superior to the Star Trek movies to a Trekkie. Something superior than Newton and Einstein to a physicist.

What? What can be superior to the prophets, the very word of God? God himself, the Son himself—full of grace and truth (John 1:14-16), tabernacling with us. Speaking to us. This is how far God will go to communicate with his people. We need not feel alone beneath the night sky; we have a God who pricked the heavens, broke into earth, disrupted time and space with his glory. Emmanuel, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of his nature (Heb. 1:3), who shows God’s character preeminently.

And our Triune God still speaks today. The same God who spoke light into existence, spoke to the patriarchs, spoke to the prophets, spoke through his Son, continues to speak through his Spirit. This is who he is, a communicative God. Stars and Scripture, prayer and promises, he still speaks and guides.

But it is still night. We see the stars, but they seem frosty and silent, distant. We don’t seem to hear God in any way. But the stars are still there. They are still beacons, pin-pricks of heaven light beaming into a dark night, in our darkness. Faith may not be easy. Faith calls us to trust his character, a God who actively communicates. Even his silence is not absence or neglect, but a response. The remaining confusion and uncertainty are an invitation to know him, lean on him. To trust. It seems scary. But we trust our speaking God, who went so far as to send his Son to speak. How will he not speak to his children what and when they need to hear? (Although not always when we want, and what we want, and as much as we want—but he knows.) The stars were spoken into being by his word; they are sustained by his word; they are his speaking too. Beacons in the dark of our communicative God.