WHY NOT TALK TO GOD LIKE TO ANYONE ELSE?

This morning (Thursday), while privately praying in earnest about a matter, I had one of those weird experiences when for a moment I heard myself as if I were someone else standing nearby listening. It brought back a hurtful memory from long ago: After a chapel in Bible school I had a friend who came up to me: “Could I ask you something?’’ he queried. “Sure,” I replied. “I was listening to your praying today. Why does your voice change when you pray? It goes kind of whiney. Why do you sound different when you pray? Why can’t you talk to God just like you would to anyone else--in the same tone of voice as you do to me?” That hurt. For one, I didn’t even realize my voice changed when I prayed. For another, that about being whiney sounded embarrassing, like I was weak, sniveling. I can’t remember if I immediately gave an answer or if one came to me later. But, there was one part of his questioning accusation that kept replaying in my head. Suddenly, it occurred to me that my answer was in his question: “Why can’t you talk to God just like you would to anyone else.” That was it! I don’t talk to God like I would to anyone else because He ISN’T anyone else. There’s only one God--and none are like Him, compared to Him, besides Him. He is God. I understand this thing about talking to God just like anyone else; it is rooted in the wonderful implications of God’s incarnation as Jesus. Jesus became human. He became a brother. He is a friend. We can talk to Him as we would any human, any brother, any friend. I understand. But, for all His being 100% human, Jesus is still 100% God. For all His being my brother, He is my Creator. For all His being my friend, He is my Judge. For all is His becoming one of us, God is still transcendent, above all, beyond us. He, unlike us of this material, temporal, spatial world, is God. For all the bravado of talking to God like anyone else, I would venture my accusing friend’s voice would have a different tone than the one he used when talking to me if he were suddenly to find himself talking to the president of the United States. Why can’t I talk to God like I would anyone else? He isn’t like anyone else. But, there is another reason: I talk to Him about things about which I talk to no one else. I don’t really need to elaborate here. Any that really pray know exactly to what I’m referring. And, there is another reason: My talking to God has far more significance, consequence, and importance than my talking to anyone else. In this matter of talking differently to God, as in many things, we often show our inconsistency: My friend took exception with my talking to God differently than I would to a friend. Yet, a man will talk differently to his spouse than to any friend or anyone else. In fact, a man will talk differently to a baby than to any adult in the room. Again, it’s all a matter of to whom one is speaking. Now, I do not believe in purposively affecting a different tone and manner of speaking when praying. Some folks begin to pray and purposively lower or raise their voice an octave, accentuate inflections on “holy” words, and begin using Elizabethan pronouns just to sound like they are praying. All such is a contrived tone and impresses no one, particularly, not God. However, I do believe in recognizing God is God and crying out to Him like one would to no other. In the end I could have simply replied to my friend, “I wasn’t talking to you. I wasn’t talking to a friend. I was talking to God.”

WHY NOT TALK TO GOD LIKE TO ANYONE ELSE?

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