The Upper Room Diaries

Sometimes when Serene and I go out, we hold hands. Some of those times we were just too tired to speak and would find ourselves being silent but enjoying the other’s presence. However physiologically, there was this ‘electric current’ going through us and with it, love was being communicated. This is a form of communication that goes beyond the verbal dimension. I find this being a perfect life illustration to explain what ‘speaking in tongues’ is all about.

A perfect biblical illustration would be that of 1 Samuel chapter 1 and 2 where Hannah goes to the temple to cry out to God because she cannot get pregnant. In the Jewish cultural context, women were being largely defined by their ability to bear children. Therefore, it was very humiliating for married Jewish women in the olden days not to be able to bear children. To make matters worst, she was being tormented by the taunting of her rival’s pregnancy. So there was Hannah, along with all her scars and hurts, went to the temple seeking God. Here is what went on in the temple:

From 1 Sam 1:12-16:

As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli (the high priest) observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.”

Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

This was same description (of being drunk) of those people who started to break out in tongues at Acts 2, after which the Apostle Peter explained to the people watching that they were actually, not drunk.

Although the ‘Baptism in the Holy Spirit’ is not all about tongue speaking (it is about more about the Christian living); ‘speaking in tongues’ as documented in the scriptures is not so much about the words or syllables involved, it was about the communication that takes place when the deep connects with the deep. ‘Tongues’, therefore is all about our spirit communicating with God’s spirit. It is an expression that goes beyond words, and communication that goes beyond logical explanation.

Speaking in tongues is very much the same as holding hands, with God, in a BGR context. Maybe this is what it means for people to ‘touch God’. It is the very same non-verbal communication where love is being felt at the core of our being.