Dangerous Listening/Dangerous Speech

Having God in your presence is such a dangerous thing. It is so difficult to follow our own desire when God is around. How difficult dating would have been if I had known that God was coming along! If we had an inkling of an idea that God was paying attention, I think we would either hide, or we would shoo him away.

As I read Scripture it seems to me that you really can do those things. We can run away. Did you ever play peek-a-boo with your children? Why was that fun? In their minds, if they could not see you, then you were not present. If we do not look at God, or consider that he could see and know what we are up to, then we are off the hook. We can ask God to leave, even.

Moses tells the story of the Ten Commandments. He said to the people, "You said, ‘The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey.’"

Moses, you go take the risks for us. We will listen to you. We say that we will obey, but really we will just evaluate what you have to say and... from a safe distance decide our course! What a deal! God says, "Okay Moses. Let’s follow their plan. Go, tell them to return to their tents."
And then, in the here and the now we wonder where God is. We marvel at the fact that we cannot hear God speak.

Annie Dillard says, "It is difficult to undo our own damage, and to recall to our presence that which we asked to leave. It is hard to desecrate a grove and change your mind. The very holy mountains are keeping mum. We doused the burning bush and cannot rekindle it; we are lighting matches in vain under every green tree. Did the wind use to cry, and the hills shout forth praise? Now speech has perished from among the lifeless things of earth, and living things say very little to very few.

"The silence is all there is. It is the alpha and the omega. It is God’s brooding over the face of the waters; it is the blended note of the ten thousand things, the whine of wings. You take a step in the right direction to pray to this silence, and even to address the prayer to ‘World.’ Distinctions blur. Quit your tents. Pray without ceasing."

Quit your tents! Come out! Look and listen. God speaks!