Spiritual Charades
God can read your mind. He knows what you are going to think before you do.
He says in Psalm 139:4, ‘Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.’
Why force your conversation with Him to be so closed? Why make Him read your mind and then try to coax your thoughts out of you. Why force it to be like some game of spiritual charades. If you are anxious, tell Him so. He already knows it. You are not hiding it. Problem is, you tell Him you are a ‘little concerned’ when you are ANXIOUS!
Part of a relationship is open honesty. No reason to be afraid to tell Him what is on your mind since He already knows. But you say I have reason to not tell Him. But guess what! He is ok with you telling Him that, too. He wants the relational side. He wants you to say it out loud so both of you can hear it and acknowledge that that is exactly what you were thinking. Then He can work on it with you.
I am going to tell this embarrassing story on myself. When I asked Karen to marry me, it was the most awkward and unromantic proposal of all recorded history. Anyway, we were to meet in a parking lot of a restaurant late one Saturday evening because I had called and told her I really needed to talk to her. I had planned it all out for our date the night before, but she needed to talk out some personal stuff that night. I was about to burst and was a ‘little concerned’. When she arrived, I jumped in the passenger seat of her car, and hurriedly just blurted out, ‘Just say yes, cause I’m too nervous to ask.’ Romantic! Her response, with a smile, was, ‘No, you have to ask’. So my second attempt was, ‘Do you want to grow old together?’ She said, ‘Sure!’ So we were engaged. My point here is this, Karen knew exactly what I was going to ask. I was so ‘concerned’ I could not even get the right, nice, loving, thoughtful, romantic words out. It was so Neanderthal. I should have just grabbed her ponytail and drug her back to my cave.
God deeply desires for us to be open with Him. We will not surprise Him. He already knows. He wants the relationship. So when we treat Him as though he is unapproachable, we miss the point of ‘Emanuel – God with us’. He actually was ‘with us’. He is with us now through His Holy Spirit. Resolve this Christmas to be open with Him more, to get to know Him better, and let Him love you.
Great story about Karen. It makes your point pretty well.
Thanks Mark. And yes…embarrassing but true! I should not make God read my mind any more that I do other people. Open honest conversation is best for a healthy relationship.