I posted this passage from A.W. Tozer back in 2012. Here it is again, because it’s so great, and because a lot of you probably weren’t around Young Adults in 2012. Enjoy, and let’s all think about growing in this direction, no?

It is my experience that the totality of our Christian lives-our entire attitude as persons-must be towards the worship of God! If you do not know the presence of God in your office, your factory, your home-then God is not in the church you attend, either!

I became a Christian when I was a young man working in a tire factory in Akron, Ohio. I remember my work there–but I remember my worship there, too! I had plenty of worshipful tears in my eyes. No one ever asked me about them, but I would not have hesitated to explain them.

You can learn to use certain skills until they are automatic. I became so skillful that I could do my work and then I could worship God even while my hands were busy. If the love of God is in us and the Spirit of God is breathing praise within us, all the musical instruments in heaven are suddenly playing in full support! Even our thoughts become a sanctuary in which God can dwell.

On Monday we spoke about conviction, that deep inner grasp on the reality and trustworthiness of God. Next Monday, Lord willing, we’ll press into how this works in terms of God’s presence and the Bible. The following passage is deep, and speaks to both concerns. Enjoy…

God’s speech to man is real speech. It is very much like one person speaking to another. God speaks so that we can understand him and respond appropriately. Appropriate responses are of many kinds: belief, obedience, affection, repentance, laughter, pain, sadness, and so on. God’s speech is often propositional: God’s conveying information to us. But it is far more than that. It includes all the features, functions, beauty, and richness of language that we see in human communication, and more.

…God’s word, in all its qualities and aspects, is a personal communication from him to us.

Imagine God speaking to you right now, as realistically as you can imagine, perhaps standing at the foot of your bed at night.

He speaks to you like your best friend, your parents, or your spouse.

There is no question in your mind as to who he is: he is God. In the Bible, God often spoke to people in this way: to Adam and Eve in the garden; to Noah; to Abraham; to Moses.

For some reason, these were all fully persuaded that the speaker was God, even when the speaker told them to do things they didn’t understand. Had God asked me to take my son up a mountain to burn him as a sacrifice, as he asked of Abraham in Genesis 22, I would have decided that it wasn’t God and could not be God, because God could never command such a thing.

But somehow Abraham didn’t raise that question.

He knew, somehow, that God had spoken to him, and he knew what God expected him to do.

We question Abraham at this point… But if God is God, if God is who he claims to be, isn’t it likely that he is able to persuade Abraham that the speaker is really he? Isn’t he able to unambiguously identify himself to Abraham’s mind? Now imagine that when God speaks to you personally, he gives you some information, or commands you to do something. Will you then be inclined to argue with him? Will you criticize what he says? Will you find something inadequate in his knowledge or in the rightness of his commands?

I hope not. For that is the path to disaster. When God speaks, our role is to believe, obey, delight, repent, mourn—whatever he wants us to do. Our response should be without reservation, from the heart. Once we understand (and of course we often misunderstand), we must not hesitate. We may at times find occasion to criticize one another’s words, but God’s
words are not the subject of criticism.

Scripture is plain that this is the very nature of the Christian life: having God’s word and doing it. Jesus said, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me” (John 14:21). Everything we know about God we know because he has told us, through his personal speech. All our duties to God are from his commands. All the promises of salvation through the grace of Christ are God’s promises, from his own mouth. What other source could there possibly be, for a salvation message that so contradicts our own feelings of self-worth, our own ideas of how to earn God’s favor?

Now, to be sure, there are questions about where we can find God’s personal words today, for he does not normally speak to us now as he did to Abraham… And there are questions about how we can come to understand God’s words, given our distance from the culture in which they were given… I will address these questions in due course. But the answer cannot be that God’s personal words are unavailable to us, or unintelligible to us. If we say either of those things, then we lose all touch with the biblical gospel.

The idea that God communicates with human beings in personal words pervades all of Scripture, and it is central to every doctrine of Scripture. If God has, in fact, not spoken to us personally, then we lose any basis for believing in salvation by grace, in judgment, in Christ’s atonement—indeed, for believing in the biblical God at all. Indeed, if God has not spoken
to us personally, then everything important in Christianity is human speculation and fantasy.

Yet it should be evident to anyone who has studied the recent history of theology that the mainstream liberal and neoorthodox traditions have in fact denied that such personal words have occurred, even that they can occur. Others have said that although God’s personal words may have occurred in the past, they are no longer available to us as personal words because of the problems of hermeneutics and canon.

If those theologies are true, all is lost.

The book this passage is from is so good. I really recommend that everyone read it. In fact, here’s a long excerpt for free to whet your appetite.

It just seems to me that this is a perfect picture of temptation, right? I mean, we’ve all been that fish…

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Hey everyone, if there’s any fake pink worms wriggling around in front of you, please, beware… (And remember the giant ugly turtle-monster hoping you’ll bite…)

From John Calvin:

“No one gives himself freely and willingly to God’s service unless, having tasted his fatherly love, he is drawn to love and worship Him in return.”

Institutes: I.5.3

In the first few chapters of the book of Ezekiel, the prophet records what it was like for him to be called by God to serve as a prophet. Ezekiel’s situation was a little different than ours (he was an Old Testament prophet, living before the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, who had God’s direct words to speak and write), and yet, there are some real parallels and things to learn for anyone who wants to serve God and speak for him in our generation. I ran across a helpful summary of these lessons in Daniel Block’s commentary on Ezekiel. This is a little long, but I encourage you to grab your bible and read Ezekiel 1:1-3:15, and then contemplate Block’s observations. Here they are:

If the account of Ezekiel’s inaugural vision provides the reader with important lessons about God, the commission narrative offers vital information on the relationship between God and those whom he calls into his service.

First, whoever would serve as a messenger of God must recognize that the calling comes from God alone.  Neither the needs of the field, nor oratorical gifts, nor any other external qualifications authorize one to enter divine service.  Moreover, the God who appoints his servants also defines the task, chooses the fields of service, provides the message, and assumes responsibility for the outcome.  The less evident the fruit for one’s ministry, the more critical is a clear sense of calling.

Second, whoever would serve as God’s messenger must first have a clear vision of the one who sends him or her.  Although Yahweh prepared Ezekiel for his ministry by hardening him commensurate with the hardness of his audience, the primary preparation occurred in chapter 1.  Unless the servant of God enters divine service with a sense of awe at the privilege of representing the glorious King of heaven and earth, and unless one is convinced of God’s sovereignty over all the earth and over all of human history, the ministry may be a burden.  Without a firm conviction of God’s call the ministry may be one’s undoing – especially when the opposition is strong and fruit is absent.

Third, whoever would serve as God’s messenger must be empowered by the Spirit of God.  Ezekiel was “the prophet of the Spirit.”  Animated and energized by the infusion of God’s Holy Spirit, he serves as a model to all who would stand in the Lord’s presence and all who would enter his service.

Fourth, whoever would serve as the messenger of God must be inspired by the message of God.  To be sure, the personalities of God’s agents color the manner in which the calling is fulfilled.  This was certainly the case with Ezekiel.  But the prophet is primarily accountable to God and the divine word.  Twice Ezekiel’s word is labeled “Thus has the Lord Yahweh declared” (2:4; 3:11); three times the prophet is charged to speak “my words” (2:7; 3:4, 10); three times he is told to ingest the divine message, which he is to proclaim (2:8; 3:10).  Merely hearing the message is obviously not enough:  it must be digested, internalized, incorporated, embodied, and lived.  The medium becomes the message.  Furthermore, the message of God’s spokespersons derives not from private reasoning or logic, or from mystical reflection, but from revelation.  Even so, prophetic “inspiration” does not cancel out or overwhelm natural abilities and qualities – it uplifts and quickens them.

Fifth, whoever would serve as the messenger of God will be divinely equipped commensurate with the calling.  God is aware of the challenges his agents face.  When he assigns a task, he assumes responsibility for preparing them for that work.  Indeed, God’s call to service is not made on the basis of gifts, but vice versa; gifts are given on the basis of the assignment.

Sixth, whoever would serve as the messenger of God must recognize that the calling is not to success but to faithfulness.  Every aspect of vocational service remains under the sovereign control of God, especially the results.  Accordingly, apparent effectiveness is no proof of calling, nor even a sure criterion by which to measure faithfulness.  The messenger embarks on his or her mission as an emissary of the divine King.  That privilege alone should provide sufficient motivation for unconditional service.

Some food for thought. In what ways might God be calling you to serve him this year? …with your life? How do these biblical principles apply to your situation?