The difference between a 2 x 4

You may have heard of the Horse Whisperer who softens roaring stallions with a soft voice. But have you heard of the mule trainer who begins with a 2 x 4? Seeing his mule knocked to the ground, a concerned owner screamed, "Hey, you're supposed to train my donkey, not kill it!" "Don't worry," he was assured, "first I must get that mule's complete and undivided attention." In my experience, God uses both ways, depending on the mule.Take Elijah. When Jezebel put a price on his head, the prophet sank into depression. He wanted to die. The Lord led him up "the mountain of God," the same where Israel got the 10 commandments amid smoke and thunder. God gets Elijah's attention first with a strong, rock-crushing wind. Next the prophet feels the earth shaking beneath him, then comes flaming fire. But the Lord was not in wind, earthquake or fire. "But after the fire, there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak." God was speaking to him. I believe something like this was happening on Calvary. God got the world's attention with raw violence, the Roman Crucifixion. But listen to the soft voice beneath hammer and blood: “I love you, I want you for my own.”

On the road to Damascus, Saul is on a mission to imprison Christians. A light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground, hearing a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He said, “Who are you sir?” The reply: “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.” Acts 9:9 says: “For three days Saul was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.” Having his complete and undivided attention, God now sends Ananias to the house where Saul is staying. Ananias lays hands on the former Pharisee and baptizes him. Scales fall from Saul’s eyes, he can see; he eats and regains his strength.
A discouraged fisherman named Peter has fished all night without catching even 1 shrimp. Jesus, who has been teaching from Peter’s boat, asks him to put out into the deep and lower his nets one more time. Feeling it an utter waste, Peter nevertheless obeys. The nets come up with so many fish, both boats are filled to the point of sinking. (Luke 5:7) Peter falls down at Jesus’ feet: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” But by now God has his undivided attention. Hearing Jesus’ tiny whispering sound: "Come follow me," this fisherman and some companions as well, park their boats and leave everything to become apostles of the Lord.

In her mid 40's, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. After losing one breast and learning her cancer was spreading, she became downhearted, discouraged. Knowing her background, her doctor took her by both shoulders, looked into her eyes and with a little shake, asked, "Where is your faith?!" Hiding her face in her cloak, momma began listening for "that tiny whispering sound." She never looked back. Dying at age 47, but strong in faith, she had just needed one swat with God's 2 x 4. Myself, I needed a really big one before I "hid my face in my cloak." What's the difference between a 2 x 4? If at even the sight of one coming our way, we would begin listening for that "tiny whispering sound," pretty soon 2 x 4's would be obsolete. -- Brother Caedfile

"Who knows why God has done anything?"

Scripture documents different ways God speaks to us. My favorite is the talking donkey. The prophet Balaam was used to speaking with God because he was a prophet. But this was just a bit unorthodox! On this occasion, God must have felt it was the only way he could get the man's attention. So "the Lord opens the mouth of the ass," and the donkey and the man have a conversation. The jenny asks Balaam, "What have I done to you that you should beat me these three times?" (Numbers 22:22) The ass had 1) turned off the road, 2) squeezed the prophet's leg against the mountain wall, and 3) finally fallen to its knees with Balaam aboard. "If I had a sword at hand," the prophet ansers, "I would kill you here and now."

Without going into the question, "Is this 'story' or 'history?'" what do we make of it? Maybe we should take a tip from the movie hero Shrek. Shrek's best friend is a donkey, and all through the film they talk. The main thing Shrek tries to determine, is, "Is the donkey saying something useful?" He often does, and Shrek is usually the better for it.

Even if what is said is "second-hand" -- as is most of what we hear from God -- the point is to listen, hear and obey. God spoke to the donkey, the donkey spoke to Balaam, but Balaam neither heard, listened or obeyed. In another case, the Angel of the Lord spoke to the shepherds, the shepherds spoke to Mary; Mary heard their words, but listened for the voice of God. (Luke Chapter 2:1-20) Why does God work in this round about way? As our favorite Black preacher once poked, "Who knows why God has done anything?"

That God speaks to us is terribly important. How God speaks to us is not that important. What God says is super important, and if there can be such a thing as something more important than that, it is doing whatever God asks of us. Fortunately there are other less spectacular ways the Lord speaks to us. Take dreams, for instance. We have all been stirred by Dr. King's speech at the Washington Monument, "I have a dream." The phrase comes from the Prophet Jeremiah: "Let the prophet who has a dream recount his dream; let him who has my word speak my word truthfully." (Jer23:28) Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, was informed by an angel in a dream that his intended bride, Mary, was with child "by the Holy Spirit." He was about to reject her for fear she was guilty of adultery. Again, after Jesus is born, in another dream, Joseph is warned, "Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him." (Luke 2:13)

At Mt. Sinai, where the Israelites got the ten commandments, they developed a healthy fear of coming close to God. God's appearance was announced with smoke, thunder and lightning and loud trumpet blast (Exodus 19:16). Moses however, walked right through the fireworks, and it is written of this prominent patriarch: "God used to speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another." In some sense this must be true of each prophet, they speak "face to face" with God. Since hearing God's word through the mouth of another person is perhaps the most common way we come to Religious truth, in another blog we will speak about prophets further.