Archived Articles by Father Rob

Has God Spoken to You Lately?

Our God is a self-revealing God and delights to communicate with His children through a variety of ways. The first and primary self-communication of God is His Incarnation in Jesus Christ His Son Who is the living Word of God. Beyond written and oral words, beyond thoughts, ideas, concepts and images the Word became flesh in Christ Jesus, and that Word was and is God. There will come a day when we as Christians will behold the Word of God face to face in His glory and at that day we will fully understand the self-revelation of God.

Until that day He has entrusted to us the written word of God, the Holy Scriptures. Both the thoughts and words of the prophets and apostles are breathed through with the Holy Spirit so that every word is both fully divine and fully human. God breathed through the lives, minds and writing of each of the Biblical authors to reveal His mind to us. In other words "All Scripture is God-breathed" (NKJV Greek English Interlinear NT). This view is an extension of Incarnational theology which acknowledges the full participation of the divine and human natures in the Person of Christ Jesus.

The Bible, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, is the written record of God's self-revelation to humankind. The Old Testament is the word of prophecy of that self-revelation. The New Testament is the word of complete fulfillment of that prophetic self-revelation of God in the Person of Christ Jesus. In reading the words of the Bible we open our minds and our hearts to direct first-hand witness, to encounter with the written record of the self-revelation of the living God.

But it is more than that. Through the written word of God our minds are laid open to the Living Word Himself and we are called into intimate and immediate relationship with Him. The written word points beyond itself and testifies that, "The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account" (Heb. 4:12-13). To read the written word is to lay ourselves open to the encounter with the Living Word Who is the Christ Himself. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Reading the Bible is potentially a very dangerous thing. We read either mindlessly ignoring the Living Word speaking through the text, or we read, in faith, the life transforming Word Himself.

When we read the written word of the human authors we are invited in beyond those words to hear and see, by grace and faith, the same self-revelation of God that the prophets and apostles heard and saw. One is not invited into an ancient amphitheater to hear an equally ancient monologue of hoary prophets and apostles. One is invited into dialogue with the Living Word Himself.

That is why one of the most ancient forms of Scripture study, called Lectio Divina, or Divine Reading, has four progressive steps leading into encounter with God. To open your Bible is to open a doorway into the immediate Presence of God. The four steps are Reading, Reflection, Responding and Resting. Read the text over several times to really familiarize yourself with it. Reflect on the meaning of the text. Be sure you understand it. Check any cross-references to make sure the meaning is clear. As you hear the Living Word speaking to you through the text, Respond in prayer. Enter into dialogue with your Lord on the basis of the text and share with Him your hopes and fears, your aspirations and the myriad of other things the text evokes in you, but go beyond mere dialogue. At the end of your words Rest in His Presence. The ultimate end of reading, reflecting and responding is not more knowledge, or guidance, or even transformation, but encounter with the Living God.

Behind the question "Has God Spoken to You Lately?" is the deeper question, "Have you, beyond mere words, ideas and mental images encountered God?" It is meeting with Him, being with Him, resting in Him that is the ultimate goal of Bible study and prayer. All other things are subsidiary, secondary and derivative. Regarding these things the Psalmist testifies, "I will never forget your commandments, because by them you give me life" (Ps. 119:93 BCP). Through the doorway of the written word we enter into the very Presence of Him who has life within Himself (Jn. 5:26) and He Who is the living Word breathes His life into us.

~ Father Rob +

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