Many Things to Say to You

No conversation with anyone is ever complete. With friends and loved ones and people we're getting to know; we take our time. There's no hurry. There's an ebb and flow; sometimes many words are exchanged, sometimes few. Sometimes we reach roadblocks, sometimes we have nice long stretches of "smooth sailing." The same could be said about our "conversations" with the Lord which happen, primarily, when we go to Him in His Word in quiet meditation and prayerful reflection. Our "conversations" are never complete because we are always growing and learning, seeing things in different ways, and also because the Lord has "many things" to say to us but we cannot absorb them all in one conversation (see John 16:12-13). Something I find helpful in this regard is to remember that the Lord isn't "one-dimensional" in the way He converses with us. We can be tempted to think of truth, Divine revelation, as one-dimensional, as a huge transaction of encyclopedic facts delivered in a long straight line. But truth, the Lord's truth, is love speaking and love refuses to be limited by narrow definitions that promise to wrap up the conversation in convenient or patronizing "sound bites."

The Lord has many things to say to us. Sometimes He uses truths to UPLIFT us for "those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:30-31). Sometimes in our conversations with the Lord He uses truths to COMFORT us, "to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn... to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness" (Isaiah 61:2-3). Sometimes the Lord uses the truths of His Word to HEAL us for "the leaves of the tree will be healing of all the nations" (Revelation 22:2). Sometimes in our conversation with the Lord He will CHALLENGE us - "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?... Seek first the kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:27,33). At other times, the Lord is able to INSTRUCT us because we've been softened and with tears in our eyes we confess, "Lord, to whom [else] would we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68), and at other times our path forward becomes clear, and the Lord calls us to ACT, saying, "Arise, take up your bed and walk" (John 5:8).

To me, this explains why our conversations with the people we love, including the Lord, are never complete and why it needs to be that way.