A Little Chat with God #10

(humanizing God?)

Good afternoon God:

          I think I may need to clarify something with You . . .it was pointed out to me that I could possibly be guilty of “humanizing” You with my series titled “A Little Chat with God”.  I pray for Your forgiveness if I have “humanized” You in any manner with my writings.  However, on thinking further regarding this, I have come to the conclusion after an in-depth search of my conscience, that I am not guilty.  But let me discuss with You my reasoning and how I arrived at this conclusion, so that anyone else reading this will understand my thoughts on “talking” with You as well.  Perhaps it will clarify what I am trying to do with my series, not only for me but for others who may read them.

I  agree wholeheartedly that the commonly used phrase “talk to the man upstairs” would definitely come under the classification of and/or be defined as humanizing, being a little too much on the colloquialistic side of humanity vs. deity.  And, unfortunately, You know I am guilty of having made this comment a couple of times in my very early life before becoming a Christian. After that point, however, I realized just how this could be construed or misconstrued; this is a phrase used very loosely by the world in comparison to the seriousness and sensitivity which should be the mindset of any person at any time when “talking with God”, privately or publicly.  Most people think this is funny but now, to me, since becoming a Christian, to categorize God as “the man upstairs” borders on blasphemy and usage of this phrase would constitute in my own mind a perfect example of “humanizing” God . . .  but this is just my own personal opinion.

However, my “little chats” are my form of “talking to God” or “personal prayer” if You will, and I do not feel this is “humanizing” You in any manner whatsoever.  And, this is probably something that each of us will have to decide on our own.  When I write these articles, I am earnestly writing them from my heart and these are honest requests and concerns that I am putting before You, the Master, for “discussion or clarification”.  In so many of these articles, by the time I have concerned myself about a particular chat topic enough to write it down in textual format in a pleading/requesting/discussing form, I generally have my answer by the time I have finalized my request, or at least a better understanding of the topic about which I am writing, whether it be from research or whether I have just finally come to a better understanding through Your help or on my own. 

I have chosen to “publish” these to help others who read them, and not to humanize You in any form.  But then again, as noted above, this is a decision to be made on an individual basis as to whether one would be guilty “humanizing” You at the time of such writing; only the writer and You know the mind of the individual doing the writing.  Some of these articles I have written about are to help others who may have the same thought, but do not understand such clearly, or perhaps help others see a situation better from a different viewpoint, or to expand the idea of a certain word or thought towards better Christian living or ideals, or perhaps to guide others to understand Christian values better and/or just to put forth a situation that we need to earnestly pray about, i.e., our nation and the downward direction our leaders are taking our society and us along with it.

You want us to “talk” with You on a daily basis; You want us to ask and pray daily; You want to hear from Your children.  How does one classify a “chat” specifically, other than a talk or a personal prayer when communicating with You?  To me, a personal talk, chat or personal prayer are synonymous in connotation; although I could be wrong on my interpretation or specific etiology of each individual word on its own merit.  I also realize that a “prayer” does carry a much more acute level of seriousness of thought and reverence; it is soul-searching in its intended purpose. Maybe it would be better to remove “chat” and replace it with “talk”, I don’t know.  When I am in my car by myself driving I have a little “chat” all the time with You but this is also in the form of a prayer/pleading or talk for me as well.    Nevertheless, it is at these times, especially when diving somewhere by myself, that I am alone, not interrupted, and can think more clearly and more deeply; I am free to express myself completely.  How else are we to “ask” of You other than a chat, a talk or a personal prayer?  Even You say in:

Luke 18:19 “. . . we ought to pray and not lose heart . . .”  

Luke 11:9 “. . . ask and it will be given to you  . . .”  

John 16:23-24 “. . . whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give you . . .”

James 1:5-6 “. . . let him ask of God . . . but let him ask in faith with no doubting. . .” 

I John 5:15 “. . . if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. . .” 

Matt 7:7 “. . . ask and it will be given to you. . .” 

Mark 11:24 . . . whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will

receive them. . .” 

I Thess. 5:17 “. . . pray without ceasing. . .” 

James 5:16 “. . . pray for one another. . .”

          So You can see why I needed to approach You on this situation.  While the words chat, talk and private prayer to You are synonymous in meaning, they are done with different levels of intensity.  And communicating with You can be done at either level without running the risk of “humanizing” You, but we do need to always be on the alert and acutely aware of the potential for this in our speech, our writings and our thoughts, as it can seep into our lives before we realize it.  Thanks for letting me discuss this with You.  Until next time . . .

Written by Ruth Miller

© August 1, 2011