Worship is Conversation: ETWC Review PT2

Part two of my Enter The Worship Circle book review looks at the idea presented herein that worship is conversation.

The author, Ben Pasley, devotes a chapter to the thought that it is possible and attainable to engage in a conversation with God, the Creator of the universe. He confesses to his own journey of feeling as though his attempts to communicate with God were only one-sided:

I used to believe that [God] sat on the other side of a confessional screen listening to me blather on, but He could only speak to me in truisms and bumper stickers.

I’ve felt like that.

(I’m sure now that God doesn’t write Christian bumper stickers – that’s more likely the work of the devil 🙂 )

Pasley goes on to tell that it was a portion of the book of Isaiah that intercepted his desperation. A passage declaring how God has no more forgotten us than a mother could forget the baby at her breast. (Isa 49:15)

In these words written by a prophet thousands of years ago he heard God’s voice speaking to him in the moment.

And it’s not only through the words of Scripture where the author claims we can hear the voice of God.

In nature.
Dreams.
The beauty of the world.
In visions.
In pain and frustration.

In slow, deliberate quietness Pasley finds depth of conversation with God. He utters thanks and lingers on words and phrases from the Scriptures until they “fill the mouth of God in [his] mind”. He spends a lot of  time complimenting and appreciating the things he is discovering about God.

I think we all crave conversations that aren’t rushed. Where we’re not fighting to get a word in. Or where we don’t feel like we’re the only one contributing.

It seems fitting that the kind of conversations we’re all craving – where we know and are known by the other – could come with God.

A fantastic treasure awaits those who come to know that they can hear His voice and feel his touch – it is the ability to have conversation with God.

 

Should we expect to hear from God in similar ways that someone else does? How do you foster conversation with God? Have you had to overcome obstacles in the process? How is conversation with God the same as with another friend?