Decisions, decisions, decisions …

When sharing a burden, God moves through others

Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. — Exodus 33:11

When I was in high school, I was madly in love with a boy my parents couldn’t stand. Every Sunday I would sit in our family pew at First Presbyterian Church in Paragould and stare through the panes of the church’s windows, asking God to please help me to know where he stood in all of that. What I felt was silence. Even while the pastor’s voice droned on in my ears, and my heart and mind yearned for a clear voice from God, I felt a deep, solid silence.

Communicating with God is a big deal to me. I am so envious of Moses, who scripture says, talked with God “face-to-face.” That’s the way I talk to God, especially when I’m alone in the car. I babble on and on, as though talking to my best friend. It’s the listening — or at least the hearing — part that I’m not so good at.

In the Presbyterian tradition, we trust that God’s Holy Spirit moves in, among and through God’s people, leading us toward God’s will for us. “Discernment” is one of the newer terms used to describe the prayerful approach to listening for God’s guiding voice. There have been times in my life when I have felt the “push” of God in a specific direction — usually I have known it must be God doing the pushing when it’s a direction I would not have chosen. But other times are like those high school years when my questions have — seemingly — gone unanswered.

Presbyterians are less likely than many other Christian fellowships to trust that God would tell only one of us how he wishes the church to go. We make decisions as a group, doing a lot of discerning prayer. We have no head of the church other than Christ — no Pope, pastor or priest to turn to for direction or answers: Only Christ through God’s Holy Spirit moving among the people. We are community-minded to the extreme!

These days, when a group of us cannot get together in person, we use “Zoom Room” video conferencing, trusting that God’s Holy Spirit binds us together even when our “face to face” is through faces on a laptop screen. And I will admit, my confidence that it is God leading my personal life is increased when I “test” what I believe God wants me to do by talking with others who know me well and who are grounded in faith.

Perhaps that helps explain why — at least for me — keeping my personal struggles just between God and me limits my ability to hear God’s lead. When I share the burden I am carrying with another who knows me well, I find it easier to find clarity and peace of mind — as though God moves through that person as a conduit. So while pastors and priests might not have a more direct connection with God than any of God’s children, I do believe that, as a confidential, caring and (hopefully) trained advisor, those in ministry in the church can provide a sounding board to hear God’s voice, as can therapists, close friends and family members.

Being alone with a decision is tough, even for a Christian who trusts in God’s guidance. God gives us community for a reason.

Jesus is quoted as saying, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” — Matthew 18:20.

Even Moses had Miriam and Aaron with him most of the time … and, unfortunately, we all can’t be as close to God as Moses was. I still envy that man.