The thing that always amazes me when I read the scriptures is how clearly the voice of God is portrayed as coming to the people we read about, especially in Genesis.
There’s no apparent wrestle, no long prayerful nights of fasting and seeking to determine the Word of the LORD, or searching the scriptures for validation.
There are no ‘was that you Lord?’ moments that I can relate to.
These moments, however, seem to become more common, or perhaps more necessary, the further from Eden humanity gets.
This is partly due to the fact that scripture is happening, so there is no book to consult, no community experience to draw upon, and no city gate of elders to consult; Abram is in relatively uncharted territory when God speaks to him and tells him to ‘go’.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him…
Genesis 12:1-4
No fleece for Abram
Centuries after Abram would hear and respond to the voice of God, an Israelite man named Gideon would also receive instructions from the LORD.
Gideon was fearful, uncertain, had low self-esteem and a low EQ; he was just the right kind of person for God to use at that time (there’s hope for you and me yet!).
When God spoke, Gideon tested God’s voice and asked for a sign. Gideon was effectively asking, ‘How do I kniow it’s you speaking, Lord?’
Ever been there? Yeh, me too.
Gideon threw a fleece, some kind of animal skin, on the ground and asked God to keep it dry overnight while the rest of the ground was to be covered in dew; God graciously provided the sign.
Then Gideon asked for another one, this time the fleece was to be wet and the ground dry! And God did it again! (See Judges 6)
Now, keep in mind, Gideon lived in the time of Israel’s ‘Judges’. So it wasn’t all that long ago that Joshua had led Israel across the Jordan and into the Promised Land. And it wasn’t all that long before that, that Moses led Israel out of slavery in Egypt, while God sent plagues and signs and miracles to demonstrate his awesome power and sovereign rule and reign. Gideon had this as his history, the shared communal story of his people; they knew God.
And still Gideon wrestled with the voice of God.
Abram, on the other hand, has no backstory of God delivering his people from Egypt, he has no experience of God as mighty or powerful, and he has no community full of stories of God-encounters or scripture to draw on. At best, he has some knowledge of his great ancestor Noah, and the stories of the flood and the ark.
But Abram’s father Terah did not worship the LORD.
He was a pagan.
Yet miraculously, Abram simply hears God say ‘Go’ and he obeys! The next morning he’s gone! It’s incredible!
Most people tend to hone in, like I have started to, on Abram’s obedience. The words, ‘so Abram went‘ have been preached more times than I care to count.
Perhaps you’ve heard the catchy preacher’s phrase, ‘When the Lord says go, don’t delay, just obey!’
And while there is much to gain from studying Abram’s obedient and prompt response, I want to pause for a moment and consider the beauty of Abram’s hearing; before Abram could obey, he had to hear!
before Abram could obey, he had to hear!
God speaking comes before Abram’s going.
It’s not a tap I can control
The thing about my own voice is that it’s much like yours; I am in control of when and how I use my voice, as are you; as is God.
You can’t make me talk anymore than I can control what you say or when you say it. I can turn the tap in my kitchen on and off, I can treat my own voice the same, but I can’t do that to your voice, or to God’s.
The voice of God is not a tap that I can decide when to turn on and off.
If I desire a word or message from the Lord I cannot simply demand he speaks, nor that he tells me exactly what I want to hear.
It doesn’t work that way.
God speaks when he wants, about what he wants, and to whom he wants.
I’m labouring the point because it is more significant than we think; God’s voice is not a tap that I can control, and that, in part, is what makes hearing his voice so beautiful.
The prophet and the voice
In Luke 4:25-27 we see Jesus making an extremely startling claim: But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
In the Old Testament, the prophets were mouthpieces for God.
God spoke to them and they in turn would speak to the people they were sent to, just as Moses spoke on God’s behalf to Pharoah.
What Jesus is saying above in Luke 4 is indeed curious when we consider the role and function of the prophet. The prophet was almost like a physical embodiment of God’s voice, the ambassador of his will.
Isaiah said that when God speaks he sends his word just like clouds send rain (Isaiah 55:10-11).
So, when Jesus says that the prophet Elijah was only sent to one needy widow despite there being many widows and to only one leper, Naaman, was sent to Elisha for healing despite there being many lepers in Israel… we are reminded that God’s voice is not a tap we are in control of. This infuriated the Pharisees them, it still does.
It is arrogant to assume that if you close your eyes and turn on some gentle instrumental music that God will automatically start speaking to you, but it is a beautiful act of worship to posture your heart in that environment to listen and ask the LORD if he has anything he would like to say.
Oh that we would hear you speak LORD and have the courage to do as you say!
In Numbers 11:24-29 we get this incredible insight into the heart of Moses and his desire for all of God’s people to be able to hear the voice of God and speak on his behalf:
24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it. 26 Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.” 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
The desire of Moses was not to monopolise the voice of God. He was the man of God but longed for all to have what he had; access to the voice of God.
Moses was not trying to corner the market and become a guru, and he did not want to be a go-between.
He wanted everyone else to have what he had; to be able to hear God for themselves, but something was missing; the Holy Spirit.
What we must remember when reading these Old Testament experiences is that these people are not living under the promises of the New Covenant, they’re not filled with the Spirit by virtue of faith in Christ.
The promise that Peter spoke of in Acts 2 was only just starting to be fulfilled in Acts 2 – that any who believe and repent would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38-39 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
It’s this beautiful Presence of God with us and in us that Jesus promised would lead us, comfort us, counsel us and remind us of all that Jesus has said (See John 14, 15 & 16).
This is what we have!
But those ancient men and women of Israel did not.
Reading the old from the place of the new
Here is where things can get interesting for the New Testament believer.
We read the Old Testament with lenses colored by the promises of the New Covenant and can often attempt to interpret and apply what we’re reading through that lens.
Let me say it differently.
Sometimes we read the experiences people had in the Old Testament and apply the lessons they learned as universal for all Christians simply because they’re interacting with the same God that we worship.
The wrong application here would be that God always speaks clearly and directly to you personally, like he did to Adam, Moses and Abram. But we need to keep in mind that these moments where God speaks in the Old Testament were usually extrememly special, and uniquely part of God’s big plan for the salvation of the whole human race. This was God directing the major players in his redemptive plan that would culminate in the incarnation, death and resurection of Christ.
It’s not always like that.
The danger of thinking that your experience with hearing the voice of God will always be just like Abram and Moses can go one of two ways:
Firstly, you’ll believe that you won’t need to confirm his word with others, you won’t need to consult scripture becasue hearing his voice in your heart will trump scripture (at least in your mind it will), and you will in turn develop a level of pride and arrogance that makes you feel superior to those who don’t hear God the way you do. You’ll over emphasise the ‘prophetic’ and be governed more by your own internal monologue (or internal diaologue!) than by the collective voice of church doctrine and sound theology.
On the flip side, if you don’t hear God speak to you this “clearly” on a regular basis (and have been convinced that you ought if you are a “real” Christian), if you don’t have regular dreams, visions and angelic visitations, with the voice of God instructing your daily life and activities, you will likely conclude that there must be something wrong with you spiritually. You’re backslidden, or worse; you’re not spirit filled.
Those in the first camp will be all too quick to assign everyone who disagrees with them as being in the second camp, those devoid of the spirit.
Have you ever heard that kind of rhetoric?
If you have, you’ll likely have heard it backed up with Old Testament stories being interpreted as if they are examples of New Testament promises.
Abram’s experience hearing God speak so clearly was unique and marvelous, it’s recorded for us to believe, it’s not meant to be instructive or a template for how we should hear God.
We should marvel at the redemptive plan of God being set up in the life of Abram and we should be in awe of God’s humility as he chooses to work with a mere man to achieve his cosmic plans of salvation for all humanity.
We should be wide-eyed and grateful that God made his voice so clear to Abram, but we should not draw up templates to tell ourselves and others that this is meant to be the normal daily experience for Christians.
Didn’t Jesus say ‘my sheep know my voice’? Yes, he did. Knowing his voice is not the same thing as getting a fresh ‘word’ every morning just becasue you want one.
Consider the abrasive words of James, the Lord’s brother, as he rebukes Christians for thinking they can plan out their lives:
James 4:13-17 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
What’s that got to do with hearing God’s voice? I’m glad you asked…
God’s will is God’s voice and his voice is his will
The reason why James’ words are so important is that the voice of God is the expression of God’s will. What he wills, he speaks, what he speaks, he wills.
To assume the will of God is to assume on the voice of God, this, says James, is arrogance and evil. Why else do you think prophets in the old testament were to be stoned to death if proven to be false? They were misrepresenting the voice and will of God.
But doesn’t God speak to us? Yes! He certainly does!
He expects us to know his voice, follow his voice, be familiar with his voice and not follow the voice of strangers.
Hearing and knowing his voice is the very reason Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit – so we could hear and know his voice! (see John 14-16)
Doesn’t God want us to know his will? Yes! He certainly does! Again, the Holy Spirit was given that we would know God’s good and perfect will and obey, just as radically as Abram did.
So how do we hold in tension the fact that God wants us to carry out his will and to be led by his voice while also not assuming his voice and acting in evil arrogance?
Hebrews gives us the skeleton key
The writer of Hebrews weighs in on the topic of God’s voice in the most excellent way;
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”
Hebrews 1:1-2 ESV
Long ago and in many ways; dreams, visions, angels, signs in the heavens, fingers writing on the wall, even a donkey speaking with the voice of a man! God spoke, and God speaks, in many ways.
But in these last days, claims the writer of Hebrews, God has spoken by his Son; Jesus Christ.
One pattern we should observe from Genesis to Revelation is the written record of God’s voice. From God speaking the universe into existence, cursing the snake and promising to redeem mankind, to calling Abram and Moses, to sending prophets and kings with the Word of the Lord, the scriptures are in fact a record of God speaking.
The New Testament carries on the tradition of recording God speaking, with the Gospel’s capturing the words and actions of Jesus, the very Word of God in the flesh!
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14 ESV
Long ago God spoke in many ways, and the Old Testament has recorded it for us.
Now, in these last days, God has spoken by his Son, and the Apostles and Gospel writers have recorded it for us.
Consider the opening words of the gospel of John,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
John 1:1-5 ESV
The Word! The Voice of God – or in Greek, the logos of God!
The logos, often translated as ‘Word’, means the logic, it’s the thought process, or will, or the mind of God. His very essence.
Clearly in the mind of John and the early Church, there was no separation between God and his Voice, his Word. The Word was with God, the Word was God.
When we read the words and actions of Jesus we are hearing and seeing the voice and character of God on display. In these last days he has spoken to us by his son.
Many Christians want to hear God speak to them like Abram did but do not give the Gospels the time and attention they should if they actually believed what the writer of Hebrews is saying.
We have an advantage over Abram – we have the Spirit of God! We have the Gospel! We have Christ! And we have the records of his life and teachings to speak to use every day. The Holy Spirit longs to quicken the scriptures to our hearts, he longs for us to develop our hearing through careful and communal study of the Word.
If we know him, we’ll know his voice.
The gospels won’t tell me who to marry… not exactly
So, maybe your’re thinking, ‘yeh, that’s great, but I would really like a clear answer on this very personal question I have – like who to marry, where to live, what job to take, which Church to attend, what school to send my kids to or should I home-school’ and so on…
God doesn’t intend to program is with directives to govern every decision, but the Gospels contain all the wisdom and principles we need to be able to make good decisions and follow Jesus. He invites into an adventure, a journey of discovery, a relationship intended to grown deepen and strengthen over time. We learn, through a variety of practices (some described below), to discern God’s voice and to trust him in the apparent silence of various seasons.
Discerning the Word of God is an art, not a science. There’s no formula, but there are some guiding principles that can help us.
- Know his Word to know his voice: The best place to start is to develop an understanding and knowledge of the scriptures with no end in mind. A continuous, never ending, love of scripture and pursuit of deeper and deeper understading will make knowing the voice of God so much easier. God will never speak in ways that violate or contridict what he has already spoken in scripture.
- Get away from the noise: If you’re in a crowded bar, it’s hard to hear the person you’re talking to. Step outside, get away from the noise and their voice is not loud, but it is easier to hear. Cultivate regular habits of silence, of solitude and seeking the voice of God. As you read the Gospels, you discover Jesus often did this. It might mean getting up early, or staying up late, if you have a loud and busy life.
- Limit the opposing voices: It’s hard to know the voice of God if you’re constantly listening to other voices all day; podcasts, netflix, youtube, spotify, books, whatever… Limit your content consumption and increase your contemplation on the voice of the Lord.
- Practice Gratitude: You’ll be less anxious about hearing his voice if you train your heart to be grateful for all God has said and done already. This develops contentment and makes space for Peace to increase in your heart and mind. Pause throughout your day and simply thank God from your heart.
- Community: I have read many stories of God giving Muslim people a dream, and in the dream God directs the Muslim to go and talk to a specific person… a Christian. Once they wake up and visit the Christian, the Christian shares the Gospel with them. Why not preach the gospel in the dream? Why does God often include others in his process of reaching these precious people? Because he loves partnership. In Acts 13 we find a group of people worshipping and praying together, and then verse 2 says, ‘while they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said… and Acts 15:28 we see this phrase, ‘it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…’ This shows us that the voice of God is often discerned in community, in partnerships, so that we develop trust and humility together. Discerning God’s voice by yourself is a fast track to deception, especially if you’re a leader in or of a church.
- Be open: Even though God has spoken in these last days by his Son, God hasn’t stopped speaking ‘in many ways’. So be open to visions, dreams and prophetic words, be open to the weird and wonderful. Creation hasn’t stopped declaring the glory of God, the stars haven’t stopped proclaiming his Name. Be open to God.
- Cultivate the secret place: Jesus famously said that we ought to go into our bedroom, shut the door and pray to our Father in secret (Matthew 6:6). This ‘place’ of prayer has become known as the ‘secret place’ – a place to commune with God, to abide with him, and to seek his face. Jesus said that he and the Father would come and make their home within the heart of every believer (John 14:18-24). This is the true ‘secret place’ within where no one can see. It’s the ‘inner chamber’, or bedroom, of the heart. You can pray in the pantry, in the garage, in the backyard or office… somewhere to be alone with the Lord, not putting on a show, not to be seen, but to pray in secret and to commune with the Lord just as a branch remains in the vine, we are to remain in Christ, and this place of prayer is how we do it. The more time we spend here, the more we will hear and know his voice when he does speak.
I’m grateful that Abram obeyed God’s voice, I’m even more grateful that God made his voice heard. This thought encourages and reminds me; my ability to hear and to know God’s voice is less important than God’s ability to make himself heard. In fact, my ability to hear his voice is complelety dependent on his willingness to speak and be heard – and is is incredibly willing!
Lord God, our Father and King, creator and sustained of Life, grant us ears to hear and a heart to obey. May we be those who become ever more aware of your presence and your voice – we long to do your will. Lead us into deeper levels of humility, away of evil and arrogance, that we might follow you with sincerity, empowered by your grace and enlightened by your Spirit, amen.
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