The God Who Speaks by Joziah Lopez

Simply put, our God is a God Who Speaks. A God who answers every question and prayer, and listens to each of our requests and cries for repentance. Our God is one who is always present and available for those willing to listen, and for those who turn to Him not only in need, but at all times. Oftentimes people doubt the existence of God due to the fact He doesn’t seem to “answer” their questions and prayers yet assuredly I say that He does, and that silence is a viable answer on its own. Before beginning this testimony, I just wanted to state this understanding and interpretation of God so that you understand where I come from when I speak.

As a Sophomore in college, I've been exposed to a lot of things throughout my walk in life. The transition from a Christian academic environment into a secular one was a hassle, and continues to be something that I battle on the daily. It’s sad to see how many people around us on a daily basis deny, or refuse God just to continue living in their own sinful ways, yet if there’s one thing I relate to, and have seen most in this type of person, it’s that often times this doubt in God comes from those who are stressed, and feel as if God doesn’t answer. I myself have found myself in places like this, where I feel God doesn’t listen to me or what I have to say or want, and regretfully it has led to me turning my back to Him, and turning towards worldly distraction. However, it is through this struggle that I have come to realize that this isn’t the case.

Just at the beginning of this academic semester, I found myself instantly overwhelmed with the pressure of maintaining a job, balancing school work out with personal time, and even attending church. As someone who’s always been on top of school, having a semester filled with classes that run late and require a lot of work tends to drain me, and that especially was the case this semester. To put it bluntly, I idolized my work so much that I focused more on my assignments and what I had to do over God, and this is where my struggle comes in. I found myself constantly stressing over assignments, and dare I say even idolizing my craft and my work. I became so hyper focused on this way of living, that I began to skip church just to do assignments, or go to work instead, even when knowing the due dates were at later times, or knowing I could have left work early. I was consumed by the stress created in these environments so much that I turned from God and tried to repair and handle things on my own. This was a mistake.

The theme of this writing is about the God Who Speaks. I found that through time and throughout my semester, I started to feel something tugging against me through the stress and anxiety, and felt something in me that told me to cast my burdens onto Him, regardless of how I feel about His ability to “answer.” I started to pray, and devote time into at least trying to form a relationship with God through prayer, and as I progressed, I felt my burdens easing and felt my anxiety and stress gradually vanish through the academic year. Now that the academic year is finishing up, I can proudly say that God spoke to me, and while I perceived it as silence, what He provided me with were reassurances. As I meditated on this testimony of mine (and hopefully am able to convey the fact that ‘idolatry’ and stress can combine together, and are apart of many of our lives), Philippians 4: 6-7 came to mind which reads “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;  and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” God providing this peace IS Him speaking, and IS the answer that He provided me with after I decided to simply cast my burdens on Him, rather than becoming absorbed in what I was doing. Think of this relationship and dynamic as a flower. In order for a flower to blossom, and for you to reap fruit, you have to care for the flower, water it, and invest time into it. The fruits of your labor won’t present themselves right away, yet when they do, and when the flower blossoms, then you’ll see that your work not only paid off, but was rewarding to yourself. That is how our relationship with God is. If we cultivate our relationship with Him, and confide in Him in prayer and worship, God not only blesses us, but He speaks through these blessings, regardless of what they are, and regardless of whether you ‘hear’ it or not. What I am ultimately conveying here is that God is a God Who Speaks, and who never abandons us, as long as we simply invest in Him, and cast our burdens onto Him.