Does God Really Communicate with People?

Really, how can we know anything about God? People have always been frustrated trying to understand something about God. Does he speak to us? The Bible is full of God speaking: “God said to the woman”, “God said to Noah”, “God said to Abram”. We get the impression that God carried on direct conversations with these ancient people. So, why doesn’t he do that with me?

But this God speaking language is really just an expression that describes what people perceived God to be saying to them. In Numbers 12:6-8, after Miriam and Aaron challenged Moses’ leadership, God said to them[!]:

“When there are prophets of the Lord among you, I reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord.”

And after Moses died, Deuteronomy 34:10 says:

Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.

So, although the Bible repeatedly refers to God speaking to people, it also tells us that other than Moses, God has rarely spoken directly to people. In truth, it is hard for little humans to discern what God says because he doesn’t speak directly to us. We have to live with ambiguity in understanding what he says. When the Bible says “God said…”, this is what people discerned and interpreted rather than literally heard what he said.

It’s a good thing too! We have more than enough religious leaders trying to control masses of people because “God told me, so you have to do what I say.” A better, although a bit messy, solution is “peer-reviewed” study, discussion, and discernment. It may result in disagreement and even conflict, but in the end, the better ideas and understandings float to the top and survive the ages.

It is tempting to just give up trying to figure it all out—but that’s not the human way. We have a natural inclination to figure things out, and are undaunted by insurmountable odds. So why give up on knowing God? Anyone can pursue God—we don’t need advanced degrees. We don’t even need to be particularly bright. Intellect can help our pursuit of God, but often just gets in the way. God-knowledge is on a different level.

And, knowing God has eternal implications.