God is committed to communicating with you.
"The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”“No,” he said. Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me."
- Numbers 22:30-32 (New International Version)
The other day God guided me to a resource to share with my client that I knew would help her get tremendous breakthrough in an area of her mindset that we've been working on. When I found it I just broke out crying and worshipping Him because of how He led me to that resource -- it was an accident I stumbled upon while doing something completely else. It touched me so much because it was yet another example of how much He cares for us; He used ME to get a blessing to HER.
So around that time I had been talking to some people in my audience during some market research interviews and hearing some of them share how they really want to do what God wants them to do, they just wish He would tell them plainly what it is. One even jokingly said something like, I know God gave me free will but sometimes I wish He would just MAKE me do what He wanted me to do 😂
Can you relate?
Anyway, this series of encounters (and the Holy Spirit being the bomb teacher that He is) got me to thinking about how God communicates with us. Go with me here for a sec:
God is real, right? Hopefully we agree on that. And if He's real, that means He's out there, right now, in some shape or form, existing. God be existing out here lol
But the way He exists is different than how WE exist. We exist in the natural, He exists in the SUPERnatural.
Now imagine this, how does a SUPERnatural Dad, speak to His natural kids? Just think about the logistics of that. He's in one dimension trying to speak to you in another one. As of now, there's no inter-dimensional FaceTime to help with this problem, so what does He do? He tried audibly speaking back in the old testament but that didn't really work to build the type of relationship with His people He wanted.
So that's why He sent the Holy Spirit to live inside us so we could hear from Him on the inside right? But, as He well knows, sometimes we're in places emotionally where it just feels hard to hear Him speak (s/o to my friend for mentioning this on our recent interview). That, my dear, is when I believe He starts to get creative.
God will use whatever He has to use to get your attention.
That's what He did in this week's scripture. He used a whole donkey to speak to Balaam! He had to get a message to him and he got it to him by any means necessary.
And honestly, if you think about how we're in two different dimensions, I bet it's just as challenging on His end to communicate with us as it is on our end to communicate with Him. As frustrated as you are that you're not hearing Him, I bet He's over there saying the same thing! Like pleeeease just hear me child!
That's why investing time in building our relationship with Him, learning His personality through His word and practicing His presence through daily prayer are the absolute best things we can do to correct this "hearing" problem. The more you know someone, the more you know what they're thinking before they even say anything. They can just give you a look and you already know! That's the goal of building our relationship with God. That He could just give you an unction in your spirit, a word from a friend or a crazy donkey 😂 and you'll know what He's saying to you.
I know sometimes it seems like you're struggling to hear from God but let me encourage you that God is committed to communicating with you! Don't let yourself believe the lie that He's somehow withholding information from you or mad at you -- no. He wants to talk to you as bad as you want to talk to Him. Affirm that to yourself out loud today if you've been struggling in this area and trust, as infinitely creative as He is, your confirmation is coming somehow, some way!
Still hungry? Eat more //
If you have 4-minutes and want a really cheesy illustration of how hard it is for us to communicate "between dimensions", watch this movie clip. (DISCLAIMER: I'm not sure what intention was set behind this film, so if there's any foolishness tied to it, the views, thoughts or opinions expressed in this film belong solely to its creators. They do not reflect the opinions or beliefs of me or Big Idea Food.)
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Numbers 22:1-35 → read for more context around the events that led up to the donkey acting a fool in our scripture this week.
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1 Kings 17:1-9 → Just like the donkey acting crazy, the brook drying up in this story was also a way that God used to get His child's attention. Struggles that come in our path are often signs to stop, go to God and find out what He's trying to tell you. Don't let them get you down; view them as reminders to check in with your Father.