Suppose you are reading a passage that seems to have nothing in common with a situation you are facing. But when you read a certain verse, the words are written in neon. They appear to speak DIRECTLY to a situation you are facing. Could the breath-taking "connection" between this verse and your circumstances be God's doing? Is He the one behind the connection and is He trying to tell you something?
The first thing we MUST admit is our ability to fool ourselves. There is something inside of us that wants God's stamp of approval on the things that self wants. The liability of this suspect motive can be compounded by the fact that we aren't that smart. Our minds are capable of finding a reasonable explanation for nonsense. So we have the limitations of two of Dorothy's friends all rolled into one: We have neither the heart nor the brain. We aren't equipped to declare, "This IS God speaking."
So, while we admit the possibility that God COULD be speaking in the neon verses, our healthy distrust of our heart and mind requires us to seek some external confirmation. This heart and mind limitation comes as no shock to God. So, we can take some refuge in the knowledge that IF God is speaking through our neon verses, He is aware of our need for something FROM HIM that we cannot supply ourselves, the confirmation that He is the one speaking.
In Part 1, I mentioned three examples of "unorthodox" modes of divine communication, a burning bush, a talking donkey, and handwriting on a palace wall. In all three instances, these "neon experiences" were not encountered in isolation. There is a "ministry of confirmation" which God provided to the recipients of these messages. Let's check 'em out.
At the burning bush incident recorded in Exodus 3-4, Moses was commissioned by God for a tough assignment. Was Moses exasperating God by his list of objections? Perhaps, but God DID give to Moses confirmation that this commissioning was not a mirage. A rod that became a snake (and could be returned to its original state) and a hand that became leprous (and could be returned to a healthy condition) were graphic elements to this ministry of confirmation.
In the case of Balaam, his talking donkey experience was confirmation of previous instances where God spoke. Check out Numbers 22. In round one, God "came to Balaam" and said, "Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people." In round two, God "came to Balaam at night" and said, "Go with them, but only say what I tell you." This was followed by a "three-peat" of "when good donkeys go bad." The climax was being rebuked by his donkey and then reprimanded by the angel of the Lord. Clearly God was unhappy with Balaam, but God DID leave no room for human error about the fact that God was the one doing the talking.
The "handwriting on the wall" incident recorded in Daniel 5 is interesting for the way in which God used two individuals as separate halves of a decoding mechanism. Belshazzar received a written message from God at a party. The meaning of the message hung in doubt until Daniel, a man of devotion to God and a man with a proven track-record of sorting out divine mysteries, was ushered to the scene. Daniel explained what was a message TO the king but FOR everyone else. The credibility of Daniel vouched for the authenticity of the message, as did the events of that evening.
Here is the take-away from these accounts. If God wants to speak to us through a neon passage, He is more than aware of our limitations of heart and mind and of our need for confirmation that HE is the one speaking. These passages show us that He is willing to provide that confirmation, to someone who balks at receiving a tough assignment from God (Moses), to someone who is toying with "doctoring up" his orders (Balaam), and even to someone whose party was "the last straw" of defiance against God (Belshazzar). If God is willing to provide confirmation in these accounts, then how much more so when someone has a heart for the things of God. It seems reasonable that if God wants to speak through a neon verse, that blinking neon will be accompanied by something else to assure us we are not just seeing things.
Hm... this is really helpful. Thanks!!
So the natural question (which may be what you're planning on answering in your third post) is "how much confirmation do we need?" One of the first things that comes to my mind is the story of Gideon (I think) who kept asking for confirmation beyond what he really needed (the fleece in the grass thing). Yet, thinking about that, God was willing to give the confirmation even then. Still, at some point there must be a line where we become convinced that whatever message/direction we are considering is from God. When do we reach that point?
Posted by: Alex Marshall | November 19, 2007 at 01:09 PM