John Piper tells the story of the time God spoke to him. We aren’t talking here about the evangelical’s idiomatic “God spoke to me,” which usually means an insignificant coincidence, or a really strong feeling, or some such. No. John Piper claims he and God had a conversation.
As I prayed and mused, suddenly it happened. God said, “Come and see what I have done.” There was not the slightest doubt in my mind that these were the very words of God. In this very moment. At this very place in the twenty-first century, 2007, God was speaking to me with absolute authority and self-evidencing reality. I paused to let this sink in. There was a sweetness about it. Time seemed to matter little. God was near. He had me in his sights. He had something to say to me. When God draws near, hurry ceases. Time slows down.
I wondered what he meant by “come and see.” Would he take me somewhere, like he did Paul into heaven to see what can’t be spoken? Did “see” mean that I would have a vision of some great deed of God that no one has seen? I am not sure how much time elapsed between God’s initial word, “Come and see what I have done,” and his next words. It doesn’t matter. I was being enveloped in the love of his personal communication. The God of the universe was speaking to me.
Then he said, as clearly as any words have ever come into my mind, “I am awesome in my deeds toward the children of man.”
Well.
Here is what I want to know: On this very day, right here in the Good Ol’ U.S. of A., at least half a dozen people — Maybe somebody on the very street where you live! — got out of bed this morning and had the private psychological experience of realizing that he or she is, in fact, the incarnation of Napoleon, or Idi Amin, or Humphrey Bogart. Why should I believe they’re crazy, and John Piper is not?