So, assuming you had a present, loving dad who took good care of you, then you can rephrase your first question to something more like “what would my dad do in this situation?” as opposed to what does God want me to do now.

God talks to everyone. Whether or not anyone listens to him is up to them, even Christians don’t always listen to him. The reason it would seem like he only talks to Christians is because once someone actually tunes in and hears him, they typically choose to follow him, or become Christians.

The fact that we get to choose to listen to him or not, shows that we have free will. Asking him for guidance is no different than you calling your dad, telling him what’s going on and asking him what he thinks. You can ask him what he thinks you should do, but ultimately whether you do what he says or not is up to you.

If your dad’s advice or guidance has proven to be good in the past, even if it sounded crazy at first, you are more likely to do what he says, because you know you can trust him. Following your dad’s advice honors him, because it shows you trust him. In this context, can you see how asking for his input and choosing to follow it by your own free will, is not belittling his gift, but actually honoring it?

As a child, if you fell off your bike and broke your arm, would your dad come take you to the doctor, or would he stand back and just watch until you asked him to take you to the doctor? There is no difference between that and God helping us without being asked. No matter what your age, if you fell off a bike and broke your arm, your dad would come to your aid, without being asked.

However, if you just fell off your bike, no broken bones or other obvious major damage, your age or maturity level would factor in as to whether or not your dad came to help, or waited to see how you would react. If you were 5 he’d come running. If you were 10 he’d watch and ask if you were alright. If you were 15 he’d probably tease you and ask if you knew how to ride that bike, but then encourage you to get back out there and keep working on those tricks you were doing.

Did your dad ever just take you for an ice cream cone (or just randomly give a gift of some kind), for seemingly no reason? Maybe you had been helping him with some work and you stopped at the store for glue and at the checkout he grabbed a candy bar for himself and told you to pick what you want. You didn’t ask, it was his idea. Why did he do that? Because he loved you and wanted to do something for you. God will also give gifts sometimes, just because he loves you.

When you see a Christian talking to God, asking for help, asking for guidance, thanking him for what he did, you’re witnessing a child with his father. Just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you’re done growing or maturing.

No one has all the answers, but hopefully this helps you understand the connection between God and man a little better.

Does he only talk to Christians? Are Christians the only ones who listen? I would think that if he has given humanity the gift of free will that we live with every day, then asking for guidance seems belittling to his gift. Receiving his help without requesting, leads me to believe that there was never any real “free will” to begin with. If he has a plan for us, then why even the need for free will?

Perhaps you should concentrate more on looking toward the good of humanity, (for it was someone that put their trust that you would be a good choice for the position without so much as an interview) instead of God.