Thursday, April 09, 2009

Come and listen

Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening (1 Samuel 3:9).

"Tell me a story." How many children have asked a grown-up to do this? For all the special effects and 5.1 surround sound, no product of Hollywood can replace the intimate pleasure of one person telling a story to someone else. Movies are impersonal—they’re the product of many people blending their efforts, and what you experience in the theater is something that was filmed months or even years ago. Live television is impersonal, too—whoever is on the screen is speaking to millions of people he cannot see and will never meet. The person on the radio is a faceless voice; without being able to see her facial expressions, there might be times when you wonder what she thinks about the words that she is speaking.

Nothing can replace face-to-face communication. It creates a sense of intimacy between speaker and listener. What a tragedy it is, that we cannot have God speak to us face to face. But God is holy, while we are sinners; even if we could walk up to Him, we would not dare to stand in His magnificent presence. Face to face communication is impossible.

When Adam and Eve fell into sin, they were banished from God’s presence. But God did not remain silent; over the course of generations, He has spoken to different people in many and various ways. Sometimes He communicated through dreams and visions; on a few occasions His voice was heard rumbling from the sky. Sometimes He has sent angels to speak His words, and for 33 glorious years, His Son walked the earth speaking the words of heaven to all who would listen.

Most people don’t hear God speak to them directly. But God enabled those who have heard Him to remember His words and repeat them faithfully. Before the Bible was committed to paper, it was communicated from storyteller to listener over and over again.

Throughout the ages, most people have listened to God’s word—Bibles have not always been easy to get hold of, and many folks were never taught to read. Yet they were not disadvantaged—they listened to the story of salvation, and it captivated them. Yes, you can read God’s words in your home—but there is no replacing the deeply personal communication of the storyteller and the listener, and that only happens in God’s house. While it is good to read the Bible, come to church this week and listen to God’s wonderful story, which is dedicated to you.

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