God as Sovereign Lord is free to “speak” (communicate, reveal, make known) to and through whom He wills, how He wills, when He wills, where He wills, and for His own good reasons. That said, a survey of Scripture indicates that He speaks in both normative and non-normative ways [normative means are typical, ordinary, and frequent, whereas non-normative means are atypical, extraordinary, and infrequent]. However, there’s an ongoing debate within the global Christian community with regards to which means should be viewed as normative and which should be considered non-normative. In the following link, an attempt is made to clearly distinguish between normative and non-normative means through use of pertinent New Testament passages:
Hearing God – How Does God Speak?
Take a look, search the Scriptures therein, and let me know what you think!
Someone I know (who shall remain anonymous) recently asked two questions about this “lesson”:
1. Does God “speak” through natural disasters or other physical interventions in our world? Does God use these things to make His will known (call to repentance or punishment or just His will)?
2. Is “nature” things that we normally think are natural (trees, mountains, animals) or does “what has been made” include other things? Could it include human created (sub-creation) art, music, etc.?
Here’s my reply:
In the wake of a major disaster, such as the recent earthquake(s) and tsunami near Japan, these are “natural” questions to be asking (please excuse the pun!). Note that I’ve re-ordered your questions to facilitate the answers:
(1) Is “nature” things that we normally think are natural (trees, mountains, animals) or does “what has been made” include other things? Could it include human created (sub-creation) art, music, etc.?
Nature is equivalent to Creation, which encompasses all that God has made. There is a clear distinction though between that which God has made (the universe, space-time, galaxies, stars, quarks, photons, neutrons, people, animals, the ocean, etc.) and that which people make (clothing, buildings, gadgets, music, art, etc.). In this there are two points to remember:
a) God created everything out of nothing. That is, the universe once wasn’t until God created space and time and then filled it.
b) Humans only create things out of that which God originally created. That is, humans can’t create anything out of nothing, they always have to start with something.
Hence, even in common, secular language there is a distinction between the “natural” and the “artificial” or “man-made.”
That said, God can still “speak” to a Christian through something artificial. For example, this communication medium (the internet) is artificial (man-made and not found in nature) and the Holy Spirit could move your conscience or speak to you in that “still small voice” through something that is written herein.
(2) Does God “speak” through natural disasters or other physical interventions in our world?
God indeed can speak through natural disasters or other physical interventions. But He is not obligated to speak, and there’s no guarantee that He will. That said, I think that it is “normative” for God to speak to Christians through nature, and thus, through natural events.
(3) Does God use these things to make His will known (call to repentance or punishment or just His will)?
The short answer is sometimes. That said, there are many reasons for suffering, of which “natural disasters” is really a subset (of forms of suffering, not of reasons for suffering). A good overview of reasons for suffering can be provided by reviewing the following four sets of notes:
http://michaelcjbradford.wordpress.com/2010/09/26/reaching-out/ (Click on the link for Suffering Week 12 therein)
http://michaelcjbradford.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/expect-opposition-trust-god/
http://michaelcjbradford.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/why-does-god-give-satan-authority/
http://michaelcjbradford.wordpress.com/2011/02/13/hearing-god-why-has-god-spoken/
After you’ve read through the info at the above links, please let me know if you have any additional questions.