This is definitely not an exhaustive list of all of the ways to connect with God. It is however a list of some of the ways that the author of the Psalms and the author of the Proverbs identified for connecting with him.

Humble Yourself

“he cares for the humble, but keeps his distance from the proud.” Psalm 138:6

He’s Always There. You can’t escape him.

You can never escape his spirit. Psalm 139:7

Share With Him What’s Going On

Tell him all your troubles. Psalm 142:2

Call to him with a true heart

The Lord is close to all who call on him… In truth. Psalm 145:18

Fear him, put your hope in him

The Lord’s delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love. Psalm 147:11

Turn from your sin

Complacency, living your own way, scheming, rejecting his advice, ignoring correction, hating knowledge, ignoring God’s call. Proverbs 1:24-32

He Will not answer you if you don’t turn and start listening to him.

Seek his will in all you do. Ask him

Don’t depend on your own understanding. He will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6

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Additional Input From Kyle Ryan

Appreciating nature (love the cover photo on the blog post Mark!) – Psalm 8, Romans 1:20, God’s eternal power and divine nature are seen clearly.

Meditating on God’s Word – Psalm 119 – I find it eye-opening how the writer talks about God’s Word/Law there vs my tendency to read quickly and forget

Silence/solitude – Psalm 46:10. Jesus frequently withdrew away from crowds to be alone with the Father. 

Praying with groans and not just words – Romans 8:26-27. We get to become more aware of the Holy Spirit, who already knows our heart and mind, in us as believers.

Lamenting, going to God honestly with grief and confusion – lots of Psalms as examples. Mark put it helpfully as “tell him all your troubles” from Psalm 142:2

Christian community – Proverbs talks about listening to the wise. Ephesians 4:11-12 talks about God giving us apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers. 1 Cor 12 says we are the body of Christ with different gifts that come from God for loving each other well.  In the men’s Wednesday cohort we talked about how Christian community is both beautiful and broken. We need each other and our leaders. And we’re going to let each other down, and our leaders will too. But God really does work through people, imperfect as we are. And when the brokenness becomes evident, let’s learn to go to God with that together too and talk about it and grow.