KNOWING GOD AND HEARING HIS VOICE.
The Christian life is a life of knowing God - a personal relationship - and of hearing His voice. But how does God speak?
Not (normally) in a loud voice from Heaven, but in a quiet inner voice. Many thoughts come into our minds and we need to learn which ones come from God and which do not. It is rather like standing in a crowd of people all talking and suddenly hearing the voice of a person we know. We hear it because we recognise it because we know the person speaking.
Abraham heard God say “Leave your home and go into a distant land which I will show you,” Genesis 12:1-4 and Hebrews 11:8. Abraham was leader of a small tribe; so several hundred people packed their belongings, loaded them onto camels and crossed a desert - all because Abraham was sure he heard God’s voice.
Thousands of years later St Paul was travelling with his companions to a place called Bithynia when they heard God’s voice tell them “No do not go there,” Acts 16:7-8 - so they went on to Troas instead.
These events are reported as being quite normal and ordinary experiences in the lives of people who knew God.
FIRST CONTACT - FORGIVENESS.
They shall all know Me from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, because I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. Jeremiah 31:34
Knowing God begins with forgiveness. Because The Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins we can be forgiven for them. Receiving His forgiveness makes the way clear to begin to know God. That is how the Christian life begins. We pray as Jesus taught us, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.”
AFTER THAT - LIVE TUNED IN TO HEAVEN
Knowing God is a lifestyle of growing up and moving on with Him. It includes: -
1/ Hearing His Voice.
2/ Reading the Bible.
3/ Relating to others who know Him.
4/ Getting involved in action with Him.
5/ Handling life’s problems with Him.
We need ALL these things to grow into mature Christians.
HIS VOICE IS QUIET.
Occasionally God speaks to His people very clearly, but usually it is a gentle whisper inside us and we have to listen carefully, then check that we have heard it right. If it is truly from God it will stand the test of being thought about, compared with scripture, checked with what we know of God’s character from the Bible and what we have learned from Him already. It will stand the test of being discussed with others. Sometimes we have heard something from God but added something from our own imagination. Discussing it with others may help us make it clear which is which.
God’s voice is gently persistent. He will go on saying it - and we can ask Him to make it clear.
Once it is clear, then it is time to obey it.
BUT WHY IS HIS VOICE QUIET?
God wants His children to grow up. If hearing from Him were so easy that we could always have the answer to every question or problem, then we would never have to work anything out for ourselves. Just as human parents want to see their children learning for themselves, so does God. He will help us, especially when we are new Christians, but He wants to help us learn to grow to maturity.
Another reason He does not tell us everything at once is that if He did it could spoil our relationships with other people, especially our families and our Christian friends. Who wants a friend who is always right? The need to work together before we can be sure of what God has said, helps form good human relationships.
DANGER - FALSE VOICES.
In Deuteronomy 18:9-12 God plainly and clearly forbids “divination, sorcery, interpreting omens, witchcraft, casting spells, contacting spirits or consulting the dead.”
In short God says, “Do not contact the supernatural - apart from Myself”
It is God’s voice we need to hear. If we listen to any other supernatural voice we shall be listening to God’s enemies - who only want to do us harm. They will tell us lies - or maybe distorted truth. They will lead us away from God.
Hearing God’s voice enlightens us and makes us more truly human. Other voices confuse us and damage our personalities.