When God Speaks

I once read from an author that God can speak to us in many different ways. Sure, the Bible is there and God speaks to us through His word when we meditate on it regularly, but this guy was saying there are other ways God can speak to us. Blasphemous you say? I think not. He said that there were times when God spoke through movies, other times maybe through songs, just little instances where messages came through and he knew that it was an answer to some of the things he was going through.

Obviously God wouldn't speak through songs with lyrics like "I wanna see your peacock" (which incidentally I overheard someone playing on their mobile phone) or in movies like say Saw, but there are times when I felt like God was telling me something through the things I read.

I remember one particular time when I was browsing the editorial section of a newspaper and came across two editorial columns which talked of two entirely different things altogether. One was written by a renowned hard-hitting journalist while the other was a guest writer. One talked about the struggles of Fil-Ams with their identity and wealth while the other talked about his work.

The Fil-Am struggles were highlighted by the penchant to work to death for material things and the signs that go with wealth and success like cars, gadgets, and so on while normal Filipinos can go on contentedly with smiles on their faces without these symbols of affluence. The other guy talked about his dreams of getting a dream job in "skyscraper city" after leaving the province but ended up feeling frustrated because he wasn't in it wholly. After getting a job as a research assistant in a far-away province, he said that he found his sense of purpose and fulfillment. Imagine that, giving up a high-paying job and trading it for one where his passion was.

Which brings me to the question: What did God say to me through these insights? My mind raced back to what the wise man said toward the end of his life "Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 2:11). I think what's important is what God wants me to do and not what I think what's good for me. I suppose everyone should prayerfully consider that; what is that thing God wants to do so that His purpose may be carried out in each individual. Time to get going.