Recently, I watched a segment of “Walking the Bible” on PBS. It included the time covered in this week’s lesson from the Hebrew scriptures, the time leading up to the birth of Moses and the story of his salvation from the royal edict calling for the death of all Hebrew newborn males. It was interesting to see the making of mud bricks, the Nile with its bulrushes, the countryside, the maps, the people there today. The narrator, Bruce Feilor, had his Bible open frequently as he asked antiquities scholars and others about their understandings of various scriptural passages, and it was interesting to hear their affirmations of descriptions of biblical life. When the program was over, however, I noticed it felt flat for me. I wondered why because the program was well done. I realized that, for me, it seemed to be merely a head exercise; the information just didn’t make it to my heart where it needs to go in order to make a difference in my life.

God calls us into relationship, into Love. God want us to know him personally, intimately, not just to know about him intellectually. God reaches us where we are, as we are, and while that program didn’t do it for me, perhaps others watching that same program experienced the Lord drawing them into his presence. God reveals himself to us in myriad ways, certainly through scripture, and through creation, through others, through liturgy, through art, music, and literature, through synchronicity, through dreams. You name it, God can and does use it to wake us up, to get our attention, to speak to us, to heal us, to encourage us, to strengthen us, to convict our hearts, to bless us, to call us, to comfort us, to lead us, to nurture us, to fill us with peace, joy, self-giving love, to give us whatever we need to move deeper into relationship with him..

How does God reach you?