When the Lord tells me to go somewhere, do something, or say something, I tend to want to know why, what the end result will be and how things are going to play out. But the Lord hardly ever gives me all the info I’m wanting.

What he does give me is his presence – the Holy Spirit guiding me continually, as long as I’m paying attention to the pillars of cloud and fire in my life.

But I guess I’m still stuck where Adam and Eve were: looking for knowledge so I can do it myself, while the Lord is offering his presence because (pardon the southernism) Lord knows I can’t do it myself. Lord knows his way is better.

Think about this: if the burning bush morphs into a flat screen tv and gives Moses a look at what’s coming over the next 40 years, do you think he goes to Egypt? Maybe not. That was an awful lot of wandering around and putting up with whiners for a long time. But he would have missed those face-to-face chats with God and would not have been… well, Moses.

How about you? Are you content to follow the pillars of God’s presence around (even when it seems aimless)? Or are you yearning for knowledge that might enable you to do it on your own, or have more control of things, or have a better handle on the situation – or any other way we want to phrase the desire we fallen humans have to be anything but radically dependent on God’s presence and grace at every moment?

Yeah, me too.

What do you say we put down the fruit that is not good for us and stick to a manna diet?

The other day, Anne Jackson asked a question on her blog, “when the devil latches on and screams at you… what do you do to shut him up?” There were many really good responses posted, but also many more that took a do-it-yourself approach to the issue, ignoring the best solution of all – let Jesus tell you the truth. Let the Lord rebuke the devil for you. This is the approach the archangel Michael took in Jude 9, so it’s at least worth considering.

This got me to thinking: why are we so ready to accept that the devil talks to us, that demons talk to us, but we aren’t nearly as ready to accept that the Lord talks to us? I know the accuser has a loud, irritating, impossible-to-ignore voice, but I also think we too often forget to open our ears to what the Lord is trying to say to us. After all, we have quite a talkative God:

God created everything by speaking.

First thing God did after creating Adam – spoke to him.

Spoke to Cain, Enoch, Noah.

Uses the title “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” as self-identification: all people God spoke to.

God spoke face-to-face with Moses again and again while they wandered around together for 40 years with the Israelites.

Half of the Old Testament is made up of God speaking to various peoples through the prophets.

Jesus did a lot of speaking while on earth, of course, but He also promised to send the Holy Spirit to teach us, remind us of what Jesus said, comfort us, and counsel us. All of these involve communication.

Jesus spoke again to Paul and got his attention quite well.

Jesus spoke all kinds of stuff to John the Revelator.

The Spirit has spoken to many people throughout the history of the church: Origen, Chrysosthom, Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus the Confessor, Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Thérèse of Lisieux, John Wesley, and William Seymour (just to name a few).

All of this speaking coming from a God who does not change and who doesn’t play favorites can only mean one thing: God is still speaking today and would like to communicate with you. Especially in those moments when the enemy is all up in your ear yelling his lies and accusations. You don’t have to deal with that alone and really you can’t. The Lord says the battle belongs to Him.

The battle is won by the Lord’s power, which often comes when the Spirit speaks the truth over you and into you. Scripture plays a role in this, but remember that Scripture is a means God uses to speak to you, not a means by which you get to figure it out alone.