After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision... (Gen 15,1)

Abram has just experienced one of the most powerful moments of his life. He entered the war and fought for the lives of his loved ones, he saw injuries and death. Everything happened so fast that only at a distance all the sensations came to him - he needed to process them, he needed to get back to normal. And just then - the Scriptures explicitly put it into context - "after these things" - God spoke to him personally again.

God himself chooses when to speak to a man. Sometimes we experience his diverse speech often, but another time we experience silent periods. Unless it is because we have moved away from God (and then we need to find the way back), it doesn't have to be wrong. Because just as a tree needs quiet periods in which it puts down roots, we are also given periods of quiet growth when we do not experience the pursuit of God as a drama of constant change. God's word is to take root in us then, to work in the depths, to lay the foundations on which the visible structure will be able to grow later.

However, Abram was in a very specific mood when God spoke to him now. How often we want our loved ones to understand how we feel inside and only then to speak to us! However, we find how difficult, if not impossible, it is for a person to always know exactly what is going on inside of another one. However, if we are fair, we will acknowledge that neither we can often understand others perfectly, and this will lead us to a more merciful (and realistic) expectations of how our loved ones should treat us.

But as far as God is concerned, it is wonderful that He does not have this problem! And we simply expect it to be so - we suppose He always understands us. Now that God spoke to Abram, he knew perfectly well how he felt. He knows it whenever he talks to anyone. He does not hurt a person intentionally or unknowingly by a rough word because he needs to take it out on him; if he has to rebuke, it is not out of dislike, but rather out of love that transcends our understanding, because his is the everlasting love for the eternity.