The Vehicles

“The Vehicles”


Brimfield Faith UMC / March 11, 2012

Numbers 22:27-31



GIBBERISH

Having a two and a half year old in the house you learn to speak new languages. Caleb is starting to talk quite a bit but if you don’t know his language it can be difficult to understand. As he babbles along, there are many times that I have to turn to Michelle to see if she knows what he is saying. Even when you can’t understand him, he has a way of communicating what he wants. In fact, before he had many words at all, he would grunt, point, and pull you around. He knew exactly what he wanted and he would make sure you knew as well.

The only way to really understand a toddler or anyone for that matter is to know them well. Michelle knows Caleb speak better than me because she spends all day with him. The depth of a relationship often dictates the effectiveness of communication. Husbands and wives can communicate with a glance or a gesture. (Michelle often tries this while I’m preaching.) In communication theory the goal of communication is always what is called shared meaning. That is having both the speaker and listener on the same page. Relationships improve the ability to have shared meaning with another person. God also longs to have shared meaning when communicating with us. This can be challenging at times. In fact, trying to understand God can be as difficult as trying to understand a toddler.



GOD SPEAK

The journey of Lent this year is to learn how to better recognize, understand, and follow the voice of God. That movement towards shared communication begins as we read and study the Scriptures. The Bible is not a collection of nice sayings or even a handbook for how to live life. Instead, the Bible is the revelation of the character and person of God. The Bible reveals the heart of God and how he longs to interact with his people. Through the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit, we can come into a right relationship with God and begin on the journey of understanding his voice and following his guidance. As United Methodists, we believe in prima scriptura. That means Scripture is the primary we learn about God but is best understood through our reason, tradition, and experience. What that means is Scripture is God’s primary way of speaking to us, it is not only way.

The Bible teaches us that we ought to look beyond it for God’s voice. Jesus loved to teach in parables. Many people thought Jesus spoke gibberish. When Jesus was asked a question, he never answered them directly. Rather he was reply with a question or a story. This was a typical Jewish approach to teaching but it still seemed to confound the disciples. They couldn’t understand why Jesus would give the people a straight answer. Perhaps they thought he didn’t really know the answers and so he was making up stories hoping people would figure it out.

Finally, they decide to ask Jesus about it. In Matthew 13:10 they ask, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” His answer explains that people’s hearts have grown dull and the parables are designed to warm their hearts so that they might be drawn closer to God. God wants to draw us closer as well. God’s voice feels mysterious because he is drawing us in. He speaks in parables, in dreams, in visions, through life because he wants our hearts. God speaks to us so that we will grow in our relationship with him.





#1. Dreams

So often God has trouble getting through to us. Thankfully, he has his ways. One of those ways we cannot avoid. It is while we are sleeping through dreams. Perhaps the most famous dream in the Bible is Joseph. Not only is Joseph good at receiving dreams from the Lord he is also good as interpreting them. In his youthful zeal, his dreams end up getting him into trouble. They make his brothers so mad that he gets sold as a slave and winds up. Through is challenges he learns to have some wisdom with his dreams. Later while in jail in Egypt, Joseph begins to interpret dreams. He provides us important insight. “Interpretation are from the Lord alone.” The people in Egypt relied on the occult and magic to attempt to understand dreams. Joseph knew God was the only one that could reveal the same meaning of dreams.

God still speaks through dreams. Acts 2:17, “17 ‘In the last days, ‘God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.” Not every dream you have is from God. There are pizza dreams, dreams from the enemy and everything in between. It seems like everybody has a theory about dreams and interpretations. Joseph reminds us that interpretations are from the Lord.

Dreams create a sense of intrigue and curiosity. God often speaks through dreams because they need interpreted. My roommate in college use to have dreams all of the time. He didn’t just have pizza dreams but he had God dreams. He began having these even though he wasn’t a practicing Christian in his life. These dreams provoked a curiosity that no person could have created in his heart. He knew that only God could interpret the dreams. We began to have conversation about the dreams and I had the opportunity to share about Christ and God’s love through these dreams. Eventually, he made a commitment to Christ. The journey began when God started dreams in his sleep. Dream interpretations belong to God alone.







#2. Everyday life

God’s voice should always keep you on your toes. In the passage that was read earlier out of Numbers 22, we encounter the Moab prophet Balaam on his way to Balak the King. The Israelites are encroaching on Moabite land and Balak wants Balaam to curse the Israelites. Balaam, a non-Israelite, goes to consult the Lord Almighty (Israel’s God) about whether he should go or not. The Lord says no and so Balaam refuses. After three attempts Balak’s men finally persuade Balaam to come to Balak.

The Lord is angry with this and sends an angel to stop Balaam. The problem is that Balaam doesn’t see the angel but the donkey he is riding on does. A rather humorous scene unfolds as the donkey refuses to go forward. Then, the donkey starts talking to him. Finally, Balaam is able to see the angel and listens to the Lord again. When he finally arrives to Balak, Balak wants him to curse Israel. Instead of cursing them, three times Balaam blesses the Israelites.

The Lord is not limited in how He communicates to us. variety of ways to speak to us. First of all, he uses a non-Israelite prophet to bless Israel. Normally, God condemns foreign prophets. This time the Lord speaks to and inspires his words. Have you ever been blessed or felt the Lord speak to you through a non-Christian. This can be through secular movies, art, books and people. God isn’t limited to just Christian ways of speaking. A woman recently shared a story with me about a time in her life when she was ready to walk away from God. As she was driving, a Beatles song came on the radio, “Hello Goodbye.” The chorus sings, “You say Goodbye and I say “Hello, hello, hello.” God can ever use the Beatles to speak to us.

Then there is the whole issue of the donkey. God uses a talking donkey to speak to Balaam. Now if you are a Shrek fan maybe that’s not odd to you. If you anyone else, probably thinks this is strange. It’s not out of God’s means of speaking. The dogs next door speak to me. “Angel and Buddy.” Angel loves to bark at me. When she does, God reminds me that His angels are watching over me. And then there is Buddy. The black, quiet dog that hangs in the background. When I see Buddy, it is like God is saying, “I may not be making a ruckus but I’m here. I am your friend.” You may think I’m off my rocker… But I believe God wants to speak to us in a variety of ways. When God wants to communicate with us, he will often use a variety of messengers.

The goal of course is to be open to those messages without needing God to shout them at us. I can’t tell you exactly how God is going to speak to you, but I can tell you that he will. It is your job to keep your ears and eyes open for the Lord to speak. It is about drawing closer to God in relationship. God speaks in so many ways because he wants to draw us closer to him. And God speaks through the oddities of life so we desire him.





GROWING UP

Until Caleb grows up and begins to speak clearer there will always be challenges to understanding him. Yet, there are ways to understand him more clearly. He still uses a pacifier and often tries to talk with it in his mouth, which makes it even harder to understand him. When he does this, we have to tell him that he needs to take the binky out and say it again. His words become clearer and we usually start guessing until we get it.

Aren’t we the same way with God? When we start to hear God’s voice it can feels like God is talking with a binky in his mouth. We can’t distinguish it. We make our best guess at it. With God, the problem isn’t him. It’s us. We have binkies that prohibit us from hearing God’s voice. We must allow God to open our eyes and ears to more clearly hear His voice. I don’t know what prohibits you from hearing God’s voice. Understanding how God speaks it a huge part of understanding him. We can be more receptive to dreams, impressions and every day circumstances. There is one final way to facilitate better hearing.

We can help facilitate that hearing but quieting ourselves and our lives. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah the prophet has been overcome with chaos. He has just defeated the priests of Baal, ended a three year drought and then fled from an evil queen threatens to kill him. Finally he ends up in a cave where God tells him to go to the edge of the cliff. Then an earthquake, tornado, and a fire. Sound like your life? Finally, what Elijah has been seeking and what we are seeking… silence. The stillness allows you to hear. When you create space for God to speak, you can hear again. The quietness allows you to be in tune with God. Silence creates space for God to speak more clearly.

God wants to have shared communication with you. The more ways you can open yourself to hearing from God the clearer it will be and the closer you will get. As you begin to understand God’s voice, you are transformed into God’s image. The gibberish becomes clear. You can hear God’s heart and love for you. You can be encouraged. Be guided. Be brought into the Kingdom of God to live with Christ forever.



Lord, gives us ears to listen and warm our hearts to long for you.