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"Another Mystery"

01/04/2026 

Laurie Zickgraf

I want to talk to you today about communication and how difficult it can be. When I was still living at home, the most terrifying sentence in the world to me was “when you get home from school, we need to talk”. I would spend the next 8 hours trying to figure out what sin I had committed or, as I got older, I wondered what I did that my mother knew about. After school, the discussion was usually not nearly as bad as I had imagined all day.

Communication is difficult. When a person speaks, they talk with their point of view in mind. The person listening to the message has their own experiences and perspectives and can easily misinterpret what was said.

The only time in history when there were no misunderstandings was at the beginning. When God created Adam, it was to have a relationship with him. Our Father communicated with pure love as He and Adam walked through the Garden of Eden as evening fell. Wouldn’t that have been the perfect end to the day?

Communication problems began after Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden. After the Tower of Bable, it was worse with all the different languages. It can be a major problem when humans speak to each other. Communication issues are blamed for arguments, fights, and even wars. Poor communication can cause families to break apart and people to feel unloved and uncared for.

After Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden and began populating the world, God continued to have a relationship with His people. He guided and taught them His commandments. When mankind became so wicked that God decided to destroy “all flesh” on the Earth (Gen 6:13) He communicated with Noah and told him to build an ark. Since Noah walked with God, he did as the Lord commanded and built the ark.

God continued to lead His people when He spoke to Abram and made a covenant with him. Though out the history of the ancient world, God communicated with mankind through Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and many more.

Even though we say that God spoke, I don’t believe it was a conversation like we have with each other. When reading about how God communicated with the Israelites, it is usually a dramatic event.

When God spoke to Moses, Mt. Sinai was wrapped in smoke and “the Lord descended upon it in fire” and “whole mountain quaked” and when Moses spoke to God, “God answered him in thunder.” (Ex. 19:18-19)

God spoke to Job out of a whirlwind (Job 38:1) and answered Daniel’s prayers by revealing a mystery “in a vision of the night.” (Dan. 2:19)

Communication was shared by angels appearing in the night sky to shepherds who were with their sheep. A star was used to guide the wisemen to the stable where the baby Jesus was born. Joseph had a dream, and he was told to go to Egypt to save the baby’s life.

When we read our Bible to learn about God and what He expects from us, it sometimes gets a little confusing. Look at Genesis 1:2b “and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters”. In verse 26 we read “then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” 

Is God one being or more than one? He communicates with us in different ways. Does this mean more than one God is guiding us? Let me be clear on something, as Christians, we believe in One God. The Bible makes it very clear that there is only one God.

The Shema (shuh mah) given to us in Deuteronomy (Deu. 6:4) begins with “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.”  This is one of the most memorized and quoted verses in the Bible. It shows us that from the beginning men believed that there was only one God. When Jesus was asked which commandment was the first, Jesus answered by repeating the Shema (shuh mah). He said, the Lord our God is one and you shall love the Lord.

 When we read and try to understand God, many of us find it difficult to understand the relationship between God, our Heavenly Father, the Spirit of God, and Jesus, the Son of God. It appears that we have a mystery on our hands - They are three but they are one.

When I first heard about God as three-in-one, I accepted this information and didn’t question. As I got older, I began to ask, how can that be? Three-in-one makes no sense. Maybe I misunderstood what I was being taught. Someone told me a good way to think of it was like this - I can be a daughter, a sister, a mother, a wife, an aunt.  I am many “things” but only 1 person.

That worked for a while until one day when I realized that Jesus prayed to His Father in heaven. But the daughter part of me doesn’t pray to the sister part. And once again, I began to search for an answer.

I soon found that the concept of three-in-one was not something that began with the New Testament, but something that the believers in the Old Testament already understood.

Genesis tells us that God created the heavens and the earth and that the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.

When King David was chastised by the prophet Nathan (2 Sam. 12), David confesses that he sinned before God and asks God: “11Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” (Ps. 51:11-12)

Isaiah (48:16) says: 16 “Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; From the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me.”

These beliefs carried over into the New Testament times. John tells us the Jesus is the Word of God and that the Word was present at the beginning.

John the Baptist told people: “8 I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” When Jesus was baptized and came up out of the water: “He saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove.” 11And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:8-11)

This small section of scripture is remarkable in that you have all three persons of the Trinity mentioned. Jesus is there, the Holy Spirit comes down like a dove, and God communicates clearly and makes it clear that He loves His son.

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he tells them that God is revealed to us by the Spirit of God. Without the Spirit of God, we are not able to understand “spiritual” realities.

 The word Trinity is not used in the Bible, but the concept was there from the beginning. A concept that is hard to express with our limitations of vocabulary and understanding. We don’t have the communication skills to adequately explain God.

Over the years I have come to a new understanding of the concept of the Trinity. I think of it as the different ways in which God relates to us.

I pray to God, my heavenly Father, to confess my sins and to ask for mercy and forgiveness. I thank God for the blessings He has given to me.

When I read the Word of God and think of the scriptures that tells us about our Lord and Savior, I think that Timothy said it best: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all”. (1 Tim.2:5-6) Because of Jesus, we can be forgiven of our sins and begin communicating with God in a new and better way.

I have also felt the Holy Spirit guide me in my faith walk. One time I was out walking and questioning some of my recent decisions. I suddenly felt very calm. The thought came into my mind that if I was doing what God wanted me to do, He would not leave me. In this case, there was a light, not a visible light but an emotional or internal light and a thought that hadn’t come from me.

At other times in my life, I believe God ‘spoke’ to me, one time I thought I heard a voice but usually it’s a new thought, an answer to my question. Sometimes it is just a sudden feeling that everything will be okay. These encounters are hard to explain, especially if the person I am talking to has never had an experience like this.

I have become comfortable with the idea that I cannot explain the Trinity using the words many theologians use. I am comfortable with the idea that I do not understand God and can’t explain Him. When Job lost everything, he began to realize that we do not, and cannot understand God in all His glory. (Job 42:1-6)

Even though I do not understand, I can tell you that I have experienced God, as three-in-one. God, our Father, who created us and loves us. Jesus who came to teach and to save us. And the Holy Spirit who guides and helps us along our journey.

I thank God that He reaches out to us in ways that we can understand.

Keep open to God and His communication. He will guide you, but it may not be a booming voice from Heaven or a burning bush. It might be a nudge, or a soft, inner voice, a thought, a comment from a trusted friend, even a stranger. You may suddenly understand the words of Jesus in a new way that fits your current situation. These are all ways in which God communicates with us and guides us.

When God talks to you, give thanks that He is a great communicator and that He loves you, until the end of the age.

AMEN