A man told me of the time he was painting the spiral staircase and said, “Lord, I’m not going to paint the bottom of the three lowest stairs.”

As clear as a bell, he heard the Lord say, “We both know someone who will notice.” Sure enough, later on, his wife came in, inspected the paint job, and said, “You didn’t paint the bottom of the last three stairs.”

True story.

I wonder how many of us carry on such conversations with the Lord. Do we expect Him to comment back to us on everyday matters? Or do we just reserve our expectation to hear for the big important things of life?

I wonder how many of us carry on such conversations with the Lord. Do we expect Him to comment back to us on everyday matters? Or do we just reserve our expectation to hear for the big important things of life?

Created for Conversation
In Genesis 1-3, we read that God created Adam and Eve and sought their companionship. He enjoyed their company and wanted relationship with them. No doubt they talked about all kinds of things as Adam and Eve explored their new life in Eden.

We see in the New Testament that same desire for interaction with His children. Fellowship with God is our privilege and our right.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” (2 Cor 13:14)

“What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:3)

I have often heard it said that there is a God-shaped vacuum inside every person –a place that only He can fill. God has put that holy hunger inside of us to reflect His own desire to have a functional relationship with us.

Sadly, many of His children only have a legal relationship with Him, rather than one of closeness, warmth, and trust.

“I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’ To a nation which did not call on My name. I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts,”
(Is 65:1-2)

The picture is one of the Lord reaching out, but being rejected.

Learning Trust
A child first learns to trust from his parents as they lovingly meet his needs for care and love.

“Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts.” (Ps 22:9)

Often we are hindered in our fellowship by judgments we made of our imperfect earthly parents whom we perceived to have failed us in some way. Because we were children born with a sinful nature, we reacted to their attitudes and behavior with judgment, resentment, and bitterness. We may have forgotten the original incident, but the seeds of distrust were planted deep within the childish heart, to grow and contaminate other relationships, including with Father God.

“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the LORD your God gives you.”
(Deut 5:16)

To have a functional relationship with the Lord requires that we learn to trust Him. If our relationship is not going well, we need to consider what distrust was sown in our hearts when we dishonored our parents.

The fault is not God’s. He initiates all contact with us. He reaches out, but our sin keeps us at a distance.

Hungry Beggars
We hear a lot about the need for intimacy with the Lord these days, yet so many are like hungry beggars peering through the bakery window, wanting to taste and be filled, but kept at a distance by an invisible barrier.

How easy is it for you to trust the Lord? How easy is it to have an everyday kind of conversation?

To begin to heal and restore the kind of relationship both you and the Lord desire:

1. Choose to repent for any judgments against your parents and other parental figures
2. Ask for those patterns of thought, behavior, and expectations that rose out of that judgment to be broken
3. Forgive your parents, forgive yourself, forgive God for any perceived offenses
4. Speak blessing and honor of your parents for what they did right and for giving you life (if nothing else)
5. Ask Father God to teach you to trust and to have relationship and conversation with Him
6. Start conversing by faith. Get to know His heart through the Word.

“O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” (Ps 34:8)