The trouble is that we speak far too much about God in the third person. We discuss the religious question, the problem of God, the meaning of life and issues of philosophy. … In all these discussions and deliberations, however, God is only the theme. He is not a Thou with whom we speak. … Hence we never find peace. The first time God is spoke of in the third person in Holy Scripture is in the story of the fall. “Yea, hath God said?” And it was the serpent who spoke like this. … The first discussion about God was opened by the devil. This should make us think.

—Helmut Thielicke, “The Final Dereliction” in The Silence of God, 75.