"I hear the most gentle whisper from One
    I never guessed would speak to me."  Psalm 81 MSG

God does speak to us. We are His beloved, after all. How often we miss His gentle whispers. We look for the grand gesture--the thunder, the miracle, the trumpet. When these things don't materialize, we think He is silent, when all the time He longs to draw us close with gentle whispers.

I'm beginning to think that those times we feel that God has withdrawn from us, that He is silent, are just times when we need to learn to hear differently. God never changes, or moves, or forsakes us. Therefore, it is not that He has stopped speaking but that we have stopped hearing. Like a radio station that signs off the air, we need to change the dial and tune in to a different frequency. It is teaching our ears to discern the rare bird's song amidst the twittering of sparrows and the cawing of crows. To sharpen our focus to see the orchid among a crowded garden of petunias. Like a bloodhound, sorting through the myriad scents to find the one trail we must follow.

God sent Him who was most precious to His heart to redeem us and bring us into relationship with Him. Although we receive great blessing from His actions, they are not for our benefit alone. He wants to have intimacy with us, to share life with us. Why would He withhold Himself from us when He has paid the highest price possible to adopt us into His family? This God, who sees each tear we cry and saves them in a bottle, Who has promised never to leave or forsake us, Who know the number of the hairs on our head--this God would give us the cold shoulder? No.

First and foremost, He is a Father, not a miracle-worker with flashy signs and wonders nor a grandiose king who interacts with His subjects based on His moods or whims. He is both a miracle-worker and king, but His highest relationship with us is as a Father, an intimate, relational, day-to-day interaction between a parent and child. He has much to say if we can learn to hear.