The rain had stopped, but the sidewalks outside The Shepherds Cafe still wore that dark, wet shine that makes headlights look like candles. Inside, the warmth of roasted coffee and cinnamon settled over the room like a blanket. Barbara had a small vase of fresh flowers on the counter—nothing flashy, just enough to say someone cared.
Elijah sat near the wall beneath the wooden sign that read The Shepherds Cafe, glasses on, phone in hand. He wasn’t doom-scrolling. He was reading an article he’d bookmarked from the La Vista Church of Christ website titled “The Language of Feelings.”
Jeremiah walked in and immediately noticed Elijah’s face—the look that meant, I’m not just thinking; I’m chewing on something.
Barbara set a mug down in front of Jeremiah before he even asked. “You two look like you’re about to start a sermon,” she said, half-smiling. “If so, warn the room.”
Jeremiah slid into the booth across from Elijah. “What’s got you locked in?”
Elijah turned the phone slightly. “It’s this piece about the way Christians talk—how often we say things like, ‘I took it as a sign,’ or ‘God was telling me,’ or ‘I felt a providential nudge.’”
Jeremiah gave a slow nod. “I’ve heard that language creeping in.”
Barbara leaned against the counter and listened, her scarf tucked neatly. “Sometimes it sounds spiritual,” she said carefully, “but sometimes it sounds like people are trying to baptize a hunch.”
Elijah tapped the screen. “That’s exactly the warning. The author points out that even in times of direct revelation, God didn’t guide crowds through impressions—He spoke specific words through specific messengers.”
Jeremiah’s eyes sharpened. “That matters. Because feelings aren’t authority.”
A younger man at a nearby table—mid-twenties, work boots, Bible app open—looked up like he couldn’t help himself. “But isn’t God involved in our lives? I mean… can’t He lead us?”
Jeremiah didn’t scold him. “God is absolutely involved. The question is how He has told us to recognize His will. Scripture never teaches disciples to treat inner impressions as new revelation. It teaches disciples to renew the mind with the Word.” He turned his Bible toward the young man. “Do not be conformed… but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).
Elijah added, “The article calls it dangerous because subjective impressions muddy the water—our bias, our desire, our fear can all dress up as ‘God told me.’”
Barbara nodded once, as if filing it away for later conversations. “And it also becomes a convenient excuse. ‘God told me’ ends discussion.”
Jeremiah’s voice stayed calm. “Exactly. When someone says, ‘God told me’—but can’t show Scripture—what are you supposed to do? Argue with their feelings? That’s not how truth works.”
Elijah scrolled and read a line under his breath, then looked up. “It also warns that longing for ‘more than Scripture’ has always been a driver of apostasy—like God’s chosen method of communicating isn’t enough.”
Jeremiah’s expression tightened—not anger, but resolve. “That is the heart of it. The Bible does not present itself as a partial kit that needs emotional add-ons. Paul told Timothy that Scripture equips the man of God for every good work.” He quoted it plainly: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable… so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17).
Barbara looked toward the young man again. “So if somebody feels pushed toward something good—like making peace with someone, serving, repenting—what do we do with that?”
Elijah answered carefully. “We don’t deny feelings exist. We just don’t crown them as revelation. If your ‘nudge’ aligns with Scripture—repentance, reconciliation, generosity, purity—then you don’t need mysticism to justify it. You simply need obedience.”
Jeremiah nodded. “And if the feeling contradicts Scripture, it’s not guidance—it’s temptation or confusion. The standard doesn’t move.”
The young man frowned thoughtfully. “So how do we talk about God’s providence without sounding like we’re claiming direct messages?”
Barbara smiled. “Say the truth. Say, ‘I’m thankful for how God opened this opportunity,’ instead of, ‘God told me you have to do this.’”
Elijah lifted his phone again. “The article uses strong language—warning about adopting religious jargon that looks for God’s leading apart from inspired Scripture and calls Scripture sufficient.”
Jeremiah leaned back and let the room breathe for a second. Then he said, “Here’s the better path: learn the Word so thoroughly that wisdom becomes instinct. Not a mysterious instinct—an educated, Scripture-trained one.”
He opened to Jude and read: “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). “Once for all,” he repeated. “Not delivered in installments through your mood swings.”
A quiet laugh moved through the booth—relief laughter, the kind that comes when something foggy becomes clear.
Elijah looked at Jeremiah. “It’s not that God is distant. It’s that God is disciplined. He chose words—teaching, commands, examples—and He expects us to respect that method.”
Barbara tapped the counter lightly. “Which means the most spiritual thing some people can do is stop chasing signs and start reading paragraphs.”
Jeremiah smiled at that, then turned serious again. “And it changes the church. If we root decisions in the Word, we can reason together. If we root decisions in feelings, we fragment—because feelings can’t be checked, tested, or shared in the same way.”
Elijah folded his hands around his mug. “So the Shepherds Cafe takeaway is simple: honor God by honoring His Word.”
Jeremiah nodded. “And remember this—God didn’t promise to guide us by goosebumps. He promised to guide us by truth. Jesus said, ‘Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth’ (John 17:17).”
Barbara turned to refill someone’s cup, then glanced back over her shoulder. “If anyone wants a ‘providential nudge,’” she said, “I’ll give you one: open your Bible tonight. That’s not a feeling. That’s faith.”
The rain started again—soft this time, steady. Inside, the cafe felt anchored, not because they had solved every question, but because they had agreed on the foundation: God speaks through His written Word, and that is enough to build a life that won’t collapse.