Communicating With Jehovah

Chapter 1 opened with the question, "can you imagine having a conversation with God?" We saw that this was not a fanciful concept. Moses, in effect, had such a conversation. What about us? Now is not Jehovah's time to send his angels to converse with humans. But Jehovah has excellent means of communicating with us today. How can we listen to Jehovah?

Because "all Scripture is inspired of God," we listen to Jehovah by reading his Word, the Bible. (2 Timothy 3:16) The psalmist thus urged servants of Jehovah to do such reading "day and night." (Psalm 1:1, 2) Doing so requires considerable effort on our part. But all efforts of that kind are well spent. As we saw in Chapter 18, the Bible is like a precious letter to us from our heavenly Father. So reading it should not be a chore. We must make the Scriptures lie when we read them. How can we do that?

Visualize the Bible accounts as you read. Try to see the Bible characters as real people. Seek to grasp their background, circumstances and motives. then, think deeply about what you read, asking yourself such questions as: 'What does this account teach me about Jehovah? Which of his qualities do I see? What principle does Jehovah want me to learn, and how can I put it to work in my life?" Read, meditate, and apply-as you do, God's Word will come alive for you. -Psalm 77:12; James 1:23-25.

Jehovah also speaks to us by means of "the faithful and discreet slave." As Jesus foretold, a class of anointed Christians has been appointed to provide spiritual "food at the proper time" during these troublesome last days. (Matthew 24:45-47) When we read literature prepared to help us acquire accurate knowledge of the Bible and when we attend Christian meetings and conventions, we are being fed spiritually by that slave class. Because it is Christ's slave, we wisely apply Jesus' words: "Pay attention to how you listen." (Luke 8:18) We listen attentively because we recognize the slave class as one of Jehovah's means of communicating with us.

Next time: Conclusion of Communicating With Jehovah

Draw Close To Jehovah, 2002