How did you see God in your life this week? Sometimes it is hard for me to see Him on difficult days. Sometimes nothing seems to go right or there is so much pain that my focus goes there rather than staying positive and focusing on the good and knowing that the good comes to me through the love and care of God. I admit to having a couple of difficult days recently. Nevertheless, I keep looking to see if there is a message that helps me realize that God was there all along! This week, God sent some angels into my life. These angels looked like people that I know and love but they definitely had angel hearts and I am sure that they were sent to me by God. They all offered me help--help that was desperately needed. Help for things that I can no longer do. I am so very very blessed; so blessed by the things done for me that were nearly impossible for me to do and discouraging to think about. My thank you's cannot begin to express my appreciation. It is the same way that we cannot say thank you enough to God for the things that He provides for each of us every day. It too is impossible to show Him how much we appreciate His care and love each day.
The football season has been going on for a couple of months and I think that it has a couple of months more to go. I have a husband who enjoys watching football games on TV. At least he says he enjoys them. At times I tend to think differently but I have been told I don't understand. So I let him "enjoy" a game here and there. And I find other things that I "enjoy" doing while he spends time wanting certain teams to win--often they don't! How is that enjoyable?
In our home we have several TV's that get used. Now you may not approve of TV or you may have no problem with it. We are pretty choosy with what we use them for. We have the one that has a picture that is too big for the screen size that we can't change. And if you want to see the game scores--they are hidden out of sight. So watching the game is nicer on a different TV. We also have a small one that I can watch the evening news on after I have gotten comfortable in bed. But---two of these three TV's have a language problem. One TV speaks English and displays printed English. It is easy to understand! Another TV has spoken English language but has game narration crawl only in Spanish. That is kind of annoying. And the small TV that I briefly use at bedtime has the picture with an even more difficult way of communication during sports time. The verbal communication is in Spanish. The second communication by the crawl is also in Spanish and once again there doesn't seem to be a way to change either the spoken word language or the printed word language! Neither of these TV's have this problem most of the time--only during sports broadcasts. This is the first time that our TV's seem to have a national heritage! God understands when you speak no matter what language you choose to use--unlike me! I have been thinking of Biblical stories with speaking as the theme! I can think of many. A few would be the confusion of language at Babel, the talking donkey, the Word of God spoken and written at the top of Sinai, various songs and the song singers, the stories of thank you for healing, the sermons preached, the last words of Christ...... So many!
God can reveal himself to people in and through any language, and no speech or language is foreign to him (Ps. 19:3). The Bible tells us that God doesn't only understand our words, but he also understands our thoughts and feelings. Even if we can't find the words to explain how we are feeling. Whether we are happy or sad, need help or want to praise God, we can use any words or thoughts or actions—and he will understand.
I have questions—
How does God understand our language? Why is language important to God? It is the mission of God to make Himself known, and he chooses to reveal Himself by speaking, by using words and language. It is because we are made in the image of God that we also speak, that we have the capacity to use language.
Why is language important to God? What is the language of God? How can we talk in God's language? God speaks in the language you know best— not through your ears, but through your circumstances. God has to destroy our determined confidence in our own convictions.
How do you know that God speaks to you?
This can happen through prayer, contemplation and/or time in the Bible. We begin to learn and hear God's voice over the noise of our world as we give time to these disciplines. The Holy Spirit begins speaking to us. We begin to hear God through those around us, circumstances and even our conscience. How do I know that God is speaking to me? How do you know that God speaks to you?
What does the Bible say about language?
Notice some of these powerful verses on how Christians should communicate with their words:
“The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of justice” (Psalm 37:30).
“A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit” (Proverbs 15:4).
Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” This verse reminds us that our words have the power to either uplift or tear down those around us, and we should be mindful of the impact our words have on others.
I want to try even harder to hear and understand what God is saying to me.
