Why should I avoid texting God?

There exists, in post-modern American society, a defining line between the generations that pray to God and those who would rather text. I would say the Boomers are the last generation to believe that God prefers to listen to our prayers and petitions in a predominantly verbal medium. Gen-Xers quickly adapted to the texting milieu, although with proper grammar and naïve emoticon usage. Millennials, I would say, are the first generation to be more exposed to texting than calling from infancy. Although they're now going to tell me that they're older than I think and of course they used phones for talking.

To their grandparents.

Be that as it may, texting is not the best way to communicate with God. The Psalms, in particular, indicate that God prefers speech. Consider these samples: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me" (Psalm 120:1). "I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to our name, O Most High" (Psalm 9:2). "O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wonderous deeds" (Psalm 71:17). And so forth.

It's true that prayer journaling has a long and distinguished history. Many people like to write down their prayers or their thoughts to God and return to those pages sometime later to see how God has worked in their lives. Having so much paper and ink is a rather privileged position compared to the characters in the Bible. And, David did dance before the Lord (2 Samuel 6:14). The Gen-Zers adapted this method of praise right away, although maybe pull back from some of those TikTok moves.

Really, though, between the emojis, the lack of punctuation, and the autocorrects (are you really asking that your love for God won't grow mold?), it's really best to just pray. You might think you're texting God when actually you're testing Him.

After all, God doesn't have a phone.

---