HEARING FROM GOD
“I will stand upon my watch, and set myself upon the tower, and will keep watch to see what He will say unto me…” (Hab 2:1)
“For God speaks in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it, no one recognizes it…”
(Job 33:14)
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. 2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. 3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. (Psalm 19:2)
Happy new month dear family! Welcome to the month of May! I believe that we have all received grace to spring forward in every aspect of our lives. No one shall be left behind in Jesus’ name. Also, congratulations to us all on our season of divine perfection; there shall be an outpouring of mind-blowing testimonies. Glory to God!
So what is the Holy Spirit saying to us this month? Jesus, in John 10:1-5, talked about how His sheep follow Him because they know His voice. We are in the days of many voices, everyone having an opinion about everything and being a law unto themselves. However, God wants us to know when He is speaking, when He is prompting us. Hence, this month, we would be considering the theme, HEARING FROM GOD.
God speaks, He is always speaking; the anchor Scripture validates this. I am reminded of a song that goes thus: “God has something to say. Listen! Listen! Pay close attention for God has something to say.” However, there is a posture of heart and an awareness of spirit we must have to hear what He is saying. Habakkuk said that he would stand upon his watch to see what God would say. Like a radio, there is a frequency we must tune to if we want to hear the news. And we must actively listen. It is one thing to be on the right frequency, it is another thing to have divided attention.
First of all, how does God speak to us? It is important to state here that God does not speak to us in an audible voice alone. There are so many ways God speaks; remember Job 33:14 - He speaks one way or another. He speaks to us:
Through His Word (1 Thess 2:13, Heb 1:1-2, John 1:1). Through the witness of the Holy Spirit in us (2 Sam 23:2; 1 Corth 2:10, Rom 8:14,16). In the place of prayer (Jer 33:3). Through our consciences (Rom 2:15, Heb 3:15). Through nature and physical events; in Prov 6:6-11, we were admonished to go learn from the ants, and Paul in 1 Corth 11:14a said nature teaches us. God is the Creator of the universe, and can speak to us through the works of His hands (Psalm 19:1-3, Rom 1:20). God also speaks through the ministry of teaching priests (Jer 3:15). Through the words of prophecy (as validations/confirmations), which also includes the testimonies of others (John 4:39, Rev 19:10b). Through dreams and visions (Job 33:14-15). Through the circumstances of our lives (Prov 24:30-34). This list is endless; God is not limited to just these media alone. The most important thing, however, is that we get the message He is trying to send our way. This brings us to the other half of the equation: why do we not recognize when God speaks? There are many instances in the Bible we can draw lessons from.
Samuel heard God at a really young age. Initially, he had no idea who was speaking, but with the guidance of Eli, he was able to recognize and respond appropriately (1 Sam 3:1-10). Among other things, we see the importance of guidance and mentoring here in discerning when God speaks. Balaam, on the other hand, knew the voice of God. But because his heart was not in the right place, he could not recognize when God was speaking to him through the mouth of his own donkey! He was so blinded by greed that he responded to the donkey (imagine your car talking to you, and you replying back instead of running away). This was an in-your-face confrontation, yet he was too blind to recognize that God was resisting his journey (Num 22:1-33). In John 8:47, Jesus gives another reason why most people do not hear God when He speaks: they do not belong to God. Remember He said in John 10, “MY sheep”; we have to be His to hear Him. Carnality is another reason; you cannot live in sin and expect to hear God. John said in Rev 1:10 that “...he was in the spirit and he heard..” Col 3:1 admonishes that we set our minds on godly things. We have to learn to shut out the noise of the world. Another reason as stated in 1 Tim 4:2 is the seared consciences of people, or as another version puts it, the loss of capacity for the truth. This is due to rebellion which results in hardness of heart. For those who do a lot of manual labor, a time comes when certain points on your palm harden and you lose sense of feeling in those areas. A seared conscience is similar to this: when you have your mind set in a particular way, when you are stubbornly set in your ways, it is impossible to hear or sense what God is saying as it relates to that area of your life (Prov 29:1; Jer 6:16-17).
Just like every child knows the verbal and non-verbal cues of their parents, God wants us to know when and how He speaks to us; He wants us to see what He is saying. Remember, God still speaks. We just need to learn to discern when He is doing so, what He is saying, and most importantly, obey whatever it is we are told to do. Like a christian author wrote, we hear God with our feet; as we move in obedience, He keeps speaking. I pray that from this month, we would learn by practice and obedience to hear from God. May our ears be opened, and our sensitivity increased to know when God is speaking to us. Amen!
In the hearing from God series, we shall consider a praying mother, a hearing ear, a seeing eye, all will be well, speak thy servant hears and the future is yours.
Come along!