Opus 2026-231: Strong Silent Type

Why don’t we experience regular conversations with God?

By regular I mean two things. First, regular in the sense of frequent and commonplace.  Second, in the sense of conversations that are oral and clear.

I started thinking about the times that God seemed to meet with specific individuals.  The Patriarchs would be an example.  He spoke verbally with Abraham at the beginning.  Later the trinity stopped by his tent for lunch.  God wrestled with Jacob.  He had regular dialogues with Moses.

One example of regular communication would be Jesus.  We have no credible accounts of His childhood so it must have been as normal as you could expect from the Incarnate One.  Remember how he went to Mary and Martha’s house for dinner.  Children would come and climb on Him.  When you think about it there were large parts of Jesus’ life that we have no record of.  So I guess you could say that God did have regular communication.

I am aware that God does communicate.  We have the written word, interpreted by the Holy Spirit.  We have the Holy Spirit Himself who can speak to us.  I am aware of that.

Why does God not make appearances more often?  I would suggest that it is for our benefit.  I can’t claim to have divine insight into the effects of such access but God, who is capable of appearing, refrains.  As in so many questions I have the concept of being created in His image and having free will comes to the fore.  God wants us to serve out of love and personal decisions, not because we have been coerced into it.  That is, at least, my opinion.  God may feel different about it and I wait to learn.

homo unius libri