God Talks Like Bumblebee the Transformer 

“And He said, Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of gentle stillness and a still, small voice.”  1 Kings 19:11-12 (AMP)

It feels weird to say that God speaks to me or that God told me something.  I often wonder if people think I’m a little crazy when I say things like that!  I don’t hear voices in my head, and I’ve never heard an audible voice.  It’s just simply my own thoughts that sometimes seem to come out of nowhere or reading a word or phrase in one or more bible verses that just seem to stick out for some reason.  In the bible, God spoke to Elijah.  It says in 1 Kings 19:11-12 that there was a strong wind but the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire was a still, small voice which was the Lord’s.  Many times I think that people believe that if God is going to speak to us it is going to be a big, grand ordeal, but that is rarely the case. 

Here’s one picture that comes to my mind when I think of how God talks to us…that God talks like Bumblebee the Transformer. 🙂  In the Transformers movies, you know how Bumblebee used to talk to Sam?  He used parts of songs on the radio or audio clips to get what he wanted to say across to Sam because he couldn’t actually talk to him since his voice box had been damaged.  It was funny because he would actually take different parts of different verses and choruses from various songs or audio clips or quotes from movies and piece them together to form his message.

That’s kind of how God talks to us sometimes.  God talks like Bumblebee in that He uses bit and pieces of things to get messages across to us at times.  Sometimes He uses different verses, or parts of verses, out of the Bible.  Sometimes it’s the same words or phrases repeated in different verses of the bible that we come across.  Other times He uses our thoughts or even other people.  God can speak to us in many ways—often with just one word or a phrase.  Sometimes He’ll speak to us through our surroundings—it may be a bumper sticker or billboard, a song on the radio, something we read online, an overheard conversation or something on TV.  Sometimes we’ll come across a repeated theme in various areas (i.e. you might hear a church sermon, hear a song and/or read a devotion that all seem to coincidentally have the same message or theme).

God talks like Bumblebee because He uses a variety of things to communicate what He wants to say to us since He doesn’t actually speak in an audible voice to us like in a person-to-person conversation. We can piece together different verses that we come across or that come into our mind and even ideas or thoughts that just kind of happened to come to mind to see what God is trying to say to us.  We shouldn’t try to read into or find God in anything and everything, but we should try to be sensitive to His voice and when He’s trying to get something across to us. 

To give you an example of how God talks like Bumblebee with me sometimes I’ll share a recent incident of God talking to me.  Recently God was trying to get me to pay attention to the story of Gideon in the bible.  There was something in his life and story that He wanted me to learn from.  How did I know God wanted me to pay attention to Gideon?  Well, first my pastor used part of Gideon’s story (Judges 6-7) in his church sermon.  No big deal.  I’ve heard Gideon’s story used to illustrate many different lessons.  Then a few days later, I was catching up on some old podcasts from Steven Furtick.  I’m a regular listener of his messages, and I had gotten behind.  Funny enough, he too used Gideon as a sermon illustration!  Normally I would have heard that message weeks before, but I had gotten behind and just so happened to hear it the exact same week that my pastor discussed Gideon.

By now I know that repetition and/or coincidences are a clue to pay attention because God is probably trying to tell me something.  I kept my eyes and ears open for additional “clues”.  Again that same week, one of the devotions I was reading on YouVersion had a reflection on Gideon.  Gideon was now a definite repeated theme, so I KNEW it meant something.  I just didn’t really know what. 

Then lastly, I had one more “Gideon” coincidence.  I had been praying for some time about something that had been bothering me for a while.  One morning during that same time frame I had asked God a question, and a phrase popped into my head.  So I looked up verses with that phrase but didn’t get a lot of insight there.  Then I just decided to google that phrase, and a website/blog popped up that answered my question EXACTLY.  It was such a relief.  After reading the article, I just happened to notice the name of the website…It had the name “Gideon” in the website!  To me that was confirmation that the article was an answer to my prayer.  To sum up, God used 2 pastors, a daily devotion and a random blog article that was written over a year ago to help me learn about something that had been bugging me for some time.  It seems to me a lot like Bumblebee using bits and pieces from a variety of sources to relay his message.  This is just one of many instances where I felt that God talks like Bumblebee…at least with me!

Take Some Practical Steps to Hear When God Talks Like Bumblebee:

• Pay attention. God may be using repetition and/or coincidences that you might be overlooking.  God repeats Himself a lot, especially to give us confirmation.  If you’re not sure it’s really God, just ask Him!  Gideon did that too you know! 😉

“Gideon replied, “If you are truly going to help me, show me a sign to prove that it is really the lord speaking to me.” Judges 6:17 (NLT)

“Then Gideon said to God, “If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, prove it to me in this way. I will put a wool fleece on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised.” And that is just what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Please don’t be angry with me, but let me make one more request. Let me use the fleece for one more test. This time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew.” So that night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning, but the ground was covered with dew.” Judges 6:36-40 (NLT)

• Piece things together. Do this when you come across similarities or when you think God might be trying to tell you something.  Do the similarities or messages add up or make sense to you?
• Write down what you hear. Write it in a journal, or put a note in your phone or table. This will benefit you and help you feel less crazy later when that same message, word or phrase keeps coming up.  I have lots of random words and notes in the Notes app on my phone from doing this.

The better we get to know God through spending time in His Word, the more familiar we’ll become with His voice, and we’ll recognize it and understand the message He is communicating to us.  This is very much like when you meet someone new.  You probably won’t recognize their voice at first, but the more time you spend with them the more familiar their voice will become and the easier it will be to understand how they come across.

Click on these links to read some additional posts about How to Recognize God’s Voice and a funny story about when God told me about Jesus’ broken arm.

How has God talked like Bumblebee with you?  Leave a comment below (click on the post link to join the conversation if you’re viewing through e-mail) or take the conversation to your favorite social media channel (sharing links below). 

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