(Painting courtesy of Stephen Warde Anderson)
Earlier this week I heard something I’d never heard before and it made a whole bunch of sense. The idea came from a group discussion on Eve’s conversation with the serpent in Genesis chapter 3. It was pointed out that while Eve was talking to the serpent about God, she would have been well-served to invite her nearby God into the conversation. One wonders how things would have developed if she would have said, “I don’t know serpent, that doesn’t sound right. God comes and sees us often, why don’t we ask Him?”
Point being, it’s all too easy to have conversations about God while failing/forgetting to invite Him to join them.
I understand there are some who look at the account of the fall of man in Genesis as a figurative illustration of who God is and who we are in light of that. I don’t agree, but regardless, the point still holds. If we are convinced that God cares about us at all, then it makes all the sense in the world to invite Him into any and all conversations about Him. To do otherwise is to minimize His desire and ability to speak into our lives.
The implications of this seem simple enough to understand. When in a meeting, whether with a group or an individual, opening the conversation in prayer is the way to go. I confess, I have sometimes felt like an opening prayer was mainly for show, or that it’s what we’re “supposed to do”, so we do it. Also, it’s not like I can’t see the wisdom in asking God to bless and/or guide our talks with each other. But hearing what I heard this week has helped me to see the folly in failing to invite Him in. How can I pretend to have an effective conversation about God without at least asking Him to join it? Taking that step requires that I believe that He wants to be included, that He’s not too busy.
Psalm 139 speaks to that:
You know when I sit and when I rise (verse 2)
You have laid your hand upon me (v. 5)
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (v. 9-10)
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb (v. 13)
There’s more in there, but I think you get the point. These are not the words or thoughts of someone who is too busy to be bothered. He wants us to call upon Him. Any time. All the time. Personally, I will be making it standard practice to invite Him into any and all conversations that I have.
80’s Lyric