“Knock Knock” - What is God Speaking to You in this Moment?

If God is communicating all the time, how do we listen for him?

Andy and Vanessa give some personal examples of what it looks like for them to pay attention to God’s presence and communication in their lives. 

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Episode Transcript

Vanessa Caruso (00:01):
Welcome to the bear with me podcast where we
aim to integrate belief andpractice in the Christian life.

Andy Withrow (00:18):
Knock Knock Vanessa Who's there?

Vanessa Caruso (00:21):
I didn't know that we were gonna start with
knocking. Oh, right. That's agreat way to start. Just KNOCK
KNOCK.

Andy Withrow (00:27):
KNOCK KNOCK. Yeah, I don't know any good knock
knock jokes.

Vanessa Caruso (00:32):
Me neither.

Andy Withrow (00:32):
Do You know one?

Vanessa Caruso (00:35):
Oh, I'm sure I do. Interrupting cow. That one
classic. Yeah, classic. Kidslove that one.

Andy Withrow (00:44):
Yeah, I think although all the ones I can
think of are everyone's gonnaknow those. So let's not even go
there. But why are we talkingabout knocking?

Vanessa Caruso (00:50):
Oh, because last time we talked, we ended our
episode wondering what does itlook like to hear the knock? So
the idea was that God iscommunicating all the time. And
that is demonstrated by theparables, but specifically by
the parable of the sower, wherethere's so many seeds being sown

(01:13):
indiscriminately. So to mixmetaphors, we were saying, you
know, it Oh, it's there's, it'seasy. There's an opportunity
every day to choose to beconnected to Christ. But then we
asked, well, how do you hear theknocking? Like if the knocking

(01:33):
is happening every day? How? Howdo you hear that?

Andy Withrow (01:35):
Yeah. It's this sort of strange for me, it's a
sort of strange play on, on kindof the like, if you grew up in
the church, you may have runinto this, this idea that, Oh,
you didn't have enough faith forthis thing or that thing? And
that's becomes a really maybeunhealthy, very unhelpful
framework to to evaluate our ownart and spiritual lives. But if

(01:59):
you kind of turn it around,because I struggle, I struggled
to talk about this kind ofconcept sometimes, because I
don't want to be the pastorsaying, Oh, you don't have
enough faith? Oh, yeah. But ifif the idea isn't so much like,
well, it's not about I don'thave enough faith for God to do
something. What if it's theother way around? I'm like, No,
God is doing something using thetrust that he's there. And if

(02:21):
you trust that, what Jesus issaying, hearing these parables
like, no, that kingdom is inyour midst, it's just under your
nose. You sometimes you justhave to trust that it's there.
So what if we lived our livesacting as if behaving as if God
were present? And speaking tous? For me, I would say he'll

(02:43):
and I will start payingattention to what's happening
around me and not just thinkingthat it's all happenstance or
coincidence, or doesn't have anysort of connection. Not that
everything needs to say, Oh,this is what God has, you know,
there's, you know, that candrive us nuts in not be helpful.
But to try it on to say, Okay,what might God be speaking to me

(03:07):
in this moment? So this is whereGordon Smith goes, yes. Yeah.
The voice of Jesus. He's talkingabout Christian tradition. Talk
about Jonathan Edwards, JonathanWesley, and Jess what? exams
that

Vanessa Caruso (03:24):
guy, Ignatius, Ignatius, thank

Andy Withrow (03:26):
you. They're all three of these. They're very
come from very differenttraditions, always. But they all
have these overlaps in terms ofpaying attention to the world
around them, kind of Bible andwhat word of God in one hand,
what is what is the voice ofJesus sound like maybe familiar
with it? And we try to listenfor him in the experiences and
the events in the world aroundme. What in discern what is God

(03:48):
speaking to me? It's reallyexciting stuff. So, so what are
for us? What might be some ofthose, those prompts or those
knocks of God speaking to us inour lives?

Vanessa Caruso (04:05):
Yeah, I was thinking about this as I walked
home. Last time, we talked fromhere from the studios. And I was
thinking that knocking usingthat metaphor is either felt or
heard, you know, like, if you'renear a door and there's a knock,
there's like a bit of avibration. Or if you're in

(04:26):
another room, and there's aknock, you hear something, and
you're like, was that a knock?
So, so thinking about that, Iwent to okay, how do I hear or
feel throughout the day, likewhat makes me reachable? What
makes me accessible? And itreminded me of the concept of
the spiritual senses, which I'vebeen learning about in the

(04:50):
program I'm in and those arethings like Taste and see that
the Lord is good. All thesethings in the Bible like Using
our physical senses, but in adifferent way for God. So
there's like this whole historyaround the spiritual senses.
It's not like talked about aton. But the idea is that we
actually can grow our spiritualsenses are seeing or hearing in

(05:16):
spiritual ways or tasting orfeeling. Yeah. And though in my
in the reading I've done aboutit for school, the number one
recommendation is to immerseourselves in the gospels, like
in for our imaginations to beformed by how Jesus lives and
responds to things and then andthen those faculties are

(05:42):
heightened. The seeing, feelingtasting, touching, I missing one
smelling. So that came to mindlike, Oh, this is a spiritual
census issue. And, you know, Itrust people that say, you
develop your spiritual senses bybeing in the gospels, it's a

(06:04):
very scent, stool, sensualexperience, there's lots of
eating and feeling and touchingand hearing, you know, going on.
So that's, that has helped meover the last couple of weeks,
just remember, like, whatusually feels like not a very
big deal to read the gospellectionary passage for the day

(06:27):
or to join morning prayer. Soit's reminded me that that's not
in vain, you know, the, like,510 15 minutes that it takes to
read that Gospel passage for theday with this openness, like God
gives you access to me toheighten my senses. Or to speak
to me through this story aboutJesus, whether I'm doing that

(06:52):
with other people, or by myself,that that came to mind as like a
pretty great start to a day.

Andy Withrow (07:01):
Yeah, I like that I like you mentioned early on,
this is a learning thing. Andwe've talked about this a lot.
There's this perception that alot of us have, whether we
reflect on it or not thatanything spiritual should be
easy, just come to us. And Ithink it breeds a lot of

(07:22):
discouragement among anybodywho's spiritually seeking but
Christians in particular, whofeel like they don't have a lot
of God experiences. And if it'snot, and so it can get easily
interpreted I think, like, Godis not broken into my life.

(07:42):
Yeah. In these ways. And in awonder if we flip it around,
say, Well, what if he is in it,it's just it's a learning it's a
it's a learning the alphabet ofhow to discern in and see when
God is showing up that all of ushave to kind of figure out and

(08:04):
just like babies and infants andtoddlers growing up, we stumble
through until we kind of learnour to get our footing and
understand language and canstart to, to engage in that way.
But I think it's a turnoff for alot of for a cultural moment to
think, to compare learning howto hear the voice of God or

(08:27):
having to be in thisrelationship with like, weight
training or exercise or thingsthat actually take a lot of
intentionality like, Hey, I'mgonna go three times a week for
20 to 30 minutes, I'm going tostart slow and we're going to
build up over time, and I'mgoing to take a chunk of my life
and actually reoriented aroundthis but when you read I think

(08:48):
you read a lot of the lot of theChristian those who've gone
before and actually have engagedin this like that's what they do
is like okay, we're going toexperiment or I'm going to try
to really make this this routinein my life because I because I
have this desire which isexactly what we've been talking

(09:10):
about in the parables is like,is there is where's the will at?
Where's the desire for this?
Yeah, and even if your prayer iswho I want to want that, like
that's take it like it's justtakes a little muscle, it's just
takes a little seed, right? Sothis is really encouraging. So
just take what you've got thevery teeny tiny bit that you've
got it and start investing thatand say okay, I'm gonna pray

(09:31):
five seconds a day. God wouldyou make, would you? I want to
want would you make the desiregrow and at least start there.
If you got more than that.
Great, then use that in and takefive minutes a day or 15 minutes
a week or whatever the thing is,So Vanessa is promising to write

(09:51):
a blog on our website entitledBear. Bear with me podcast.com

Vanessa Caruso (09:58):
That sounds right or is it ca o Hmm,

Andy Withrow (10:00):
notes.com Okay, great. Bear with bear with me
podcast.com I'll double checkthat but. And so I think I asked
her, because I didn't want towrite it. To write something if
someone only had what was it?
Like, if you only had 15 minutesa week? Yeah. Or if you only had
20 minute if you had, but if youhad 30 minutes week, what would
you how would you spend yourtime? Yeah, if you had an hour a

(10:20):
week, how would you spend yourtime? Yeah, or something like
that. Just give some a menu ofoptions for anyone who's just
wanting to get into this frommaybe a place of zero to a place
of one? Yeah, okay, I can here'shere's a bit of reorienting my
life. And that God is sogracious and so good that he'll
take this very tiny stuff thatwe have at the very beginning.

(10:43):
Oh, yeah. And make something outof it. Thank you feel like I'm
getting us off topic or thenights out.

Vanessa Caruso (10:51):
That's all on topic.

Andy Withrow (10:55):
And the immersing yourself in the Gospels. The
other other thing of just Yeah,learning like I think that's
part of the, the intentionalwork of learning the language of
God, this is, if this really isGod's words to us, then let's
learn the languages learn whathe sounds like, let's learn what
the voice of Jesus sounds like.
So when we do come up againstit, in our when we hear the

(11:16):
voices in our own heads, whichare often our own voices, or
just our own thoughts, they Oh,that one sounds an awful lot
like what I read in the gospels,that sounds an awful lot like
Jesus like doing on your own.
Maybe I should pay moreattention to that one game that
Scott actually saying somethingin my life, that that's those
are, those are both what yousaid those are both the ways I

(11:37):
would say that's where I hearthe knocking is like, Does this
sound like what I've what I'veheard before in this in this
setting?

Vanessa Caruso (11:46):
Yes. And the other, the bookend to the day
that came to mind that we'vetalked a lot about, so I won't
talk about it too much is thissome kind of end of the day
review, which I should write ablog post for this too, because
I have a new way of doing anexamine, that's just been really
helpful for me. And so I go in,in seasons of doing that

(12:10):
nightly, and then seasons havenot, and I've just been in a
season of doing it nightly, butI'm a few weeks in. And only in
the last week have I felt likesomething opened in the section
like after, you know, pausing toask God to help reflect on the

(12:31):
day, which is like a threesecond prayer like God, I don't
want to just, you know, remembermy day like a movie, I actually
want to see what's importantfrom my day. And then noting the
gifts from the day. It's kind oflike a real simple gratitude
list. And then looking for thosemoments in the day that brought
me to God and away from God.
After that, I put a little likefrowny face, just to symbolize

(12:53):
Do you have anything that I wantto apologize for? Or that I
don't feel great about? Or the Ineed to like, say something
about, you know, like, confess,and for several days, weeks, I
didn't have anything for thefrowny face. I was like, I just
can't think of anything. whichcan't be true. Knowing me, Andy.

(13:15):
Right. Right. Nothing for thefrowny face in the last week. I
have something almost everydayfor the frowny face.

Andy Withrow (13:25):
Oh, that's great.
Yeah. No, that's

Vanessa Caruso (13:27):
good.
Congratulations. It is great,because I think it's so it's so
dim in there. And it takes ittakes a lot of time. And just
like opening the door to thatbasement to say anything in
here. And most days, it's likeNope, you're great. Nothing.
There's nothing to think about.

(13:51):
Don't worry about us down here.
Yeah, we're fine. And then butjust continuing to open that
door and just ask I'm I startedto notice things that I've that
I do a lot but it's just that Iwasn't aware of them like little
one recently it was like a bitof a lie. A bit of a lie. So you

(14:12):
know and then just like namingthat and thinking do I tell my
friend that I said that? Do Ijust confess it to God right
now. It's it's uncomfortable. Sothose are the knots that I'm
like, that's a pretty big knock.

(14:33):
You can't not respond when youwhen you become aware of
something that you said or didthat was for your own ego or
purposes or out of anxiety orfear. That's my other. My book
end of the day would be theknocking good, yeah.