Communications Error
Communications Error
A few days ago, my family went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant. There
we saw an interesting issue: although the menu was in English, and we’ve
been to Mexican restaurants before, there were Spanish words sprinkled
throughout that we had to look up on our phones. I’ve been to Spain,
Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries on vacation, and my brother
is taking Spanish in school, but still, there were words none of us could
remember or had ever seen before.
The ironic part: this is a problem unique to humanity! You could take any
two dogs from different sides of the earth, different breeds, and different
ages – it doesn’t matter. They can communicate instantly. Cats? Whales?
Lizards? Ants? Bees? They all communicate with each other. Birds
constantly communicate with each other, and some birds even specialize in
coordinating flight formations during flight. We would do well to listen to
animals ourselves, since they are great at signaling dangers like
earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, tornadoes, and even random strangers.
Why do humans have this problem of miscommunication or non-
communication? One word: pride.
Our problems started in Genesis 11, with the building of the Tower of
Babel. In Genesis 11:1, it says, “Now the whole earth had one language and
the same words.” United in language, humanity decided to stay together,
ignoring God’s command to spread out and populate the earth. In 11:4 they
said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the
heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed
throughout the whole earth.” Humanity did not want to scatter but instead
make something to keep them together, and in verse 6, God said, “And
nothing they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” (Imagine the
technological advantages we would have today by having a single language
all over the earth!)
All the nations being together in one place following the great flood made
humanity able to work together to do anything they wanted, so God forced
them to scatter by mixing up their languages and giving us our largest
problem today – a lack of clear communication. Despite this, God has
worked to make sure the issue with communication that exists between
people does not also exist between us and Him. We have easy access to
two-way communication: we pray to Him, and He speaks back through His
word.
We can pray anytime we want, if we do it with the right attitude. Attitudes
are discussed a lot in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, including the attitudes
associated with pride and prayer. Matthew 6:6 “But when you pray, go into
your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And
your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Because of Jesus, we have the ultimate High Priest to carry our concerns
before God. 1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, I am writing these things to
you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our
sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
And although I won’t pretend to understand how all this works, the Spirit
also intercedes for us: Romans 8:26-27 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our
weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit
himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who
searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit
intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
God speaks to us through His word, given by the Spirit through the pens of
men throughout Biblical history. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul tells Timothy,
“All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of
God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Language isn’t an issue for prayer OR for scripture. God understands
prayers in all languages, because He’s the Creator of language. In addition,
a quick Google search reveals that the complete Bible has been translated
into nearly 1,000 languages, and portions of the Bible have been translated
into over 3,000 languages and dialects. Anyone can have access to God,
and since God knows our hearts, He will make sure those whose hearts are
tender have access to His word.
The Gospel is for all, and it has no borders. There is no nation beyond
saving, if that nation will turn to God. In the last couple of verses in the
book of Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples to go into all the world and make
disciples, and then in Acts 2, all those who heard the Gospel for the first
time were able to hear it in their own language.
So, the exhortation is this: starting with our neighbors who share a
common language with us, we should put away pride and sin, and we
should teach the message of grace that was made possible through Jesus.
James 4:6-8 "...God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from
you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you..."
- Daniel Smith
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