The Ever-Speaking God

Years ago, I was considering whether to hire a new staff member, but I had some reservations that I was voicing out loud to a friend.  

As I finished relating all of my issues, my phone dinged with a notification, and I glanced at it.  It was an email from the candidate that addressed all of the things I was struggling with.  I hired them the next day.  

I've often thought about that when I have been in similar situations where I needed some kind of sign, and then received it.  Those signs have come by way of music, a conversation, or an experience that I could not have seen coming.  

And very nearly all of those signs seemed like they were catered to me in some mysterious way.  

Now, I can't say that kind of thing happens all of the time, but I've also wondered if it was because I just wasn't paying attention.  I've often said to parishioners that God is always speaking, we're just not in tune that often.  

I do believe that God is not silent. From the very beginning of creation, God has been communicating through wind and whisper, thunder and fire, prophets and poets, dreams and donkeys, Scripture and Spirit. The problem is rarely that God isn’t speaking. More often, it’s that we’ve forgotten how to listen.

Sometimes we expect God to speak only through certain “authorized” channels—maybe a preacher’s sermon, a verse of Scripture, or a carefully crafted prayer. But the God of the Bible is far more creative, tender, and persistent than we often imagine. 

In the book of Numbers, God speaks through a donkey to get Balaam’s attention. In 1 Kings 19, God does not appear to Elijah in the earthquake or fire, but in a gentle whisper. In Acts 10, God uses a vision to challenge Peter’s assumptions. And in the Gospels, Jesus often speaks in parables—stories layered with meaning for those willing to lean in and hear.

Rachel Held Evans captured this beautifully when she wrote:

“Dignified or not, believable or not, ours is a God perpetually on bended knee, doing everything it takes to convince stubborn and petulant children that they are seen and loved. It is no more beneath God to speak to us using poetry, proverb, letters, and legend than it is for a mother to read storybooks to her daughter at bedtime. This is who God is. This is what God does.”

This is a stunning image of divine humility—a God who stoops, who kneels, who whispers bedtime stories into our souls if that’s what it takes for us to know we are beloved. God does not wait for us to become worthy or wise enough to understand. Instead, God meets us in the language we understand: through nature, music, art, silence, conversations, tears, laughter, even the unlikely pages of ancient Scripture that still somehow breathe life into us today.

Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…” Jesus is the clearest message God has ever spoken—love incarnate, walking among us, meeting people where they are.

So the invitation today is simple, but powerful: be open. Open your eyes. Open your heart. God may speak through a verse, a sunset, a friend’s words, a child’s question, or a moment of silence. Trust that the God who longs to be known is already reaching out to you, in whatever way you’ll understand.

Listen. God is speaking.

Prayer:

God, who speaks in every language and through every moment,
Open my ears to hear Your voice,
my eyes to see Your presence,
and my heart to receive Your love.
Thank You for meeting me where I am—
through Scripture, silence, story, and song.
Teach me to listen with wonder,
and help me trust that You are always near,
always speaking,
always loving.
Amen.