Hearing God’s voice is always a tough idea, and even harder if there is little communication or time spent with the one who you are developing the relationship with, mainly God. Here are some thoughts that have influenced my life in hearing the voice of God.
We pray, “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This preamble to the Lord’s prayer beautifully expresses the purpose of all God’s activities in us: “Hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.” Hearing God – as a reliable day-to-day reality for people with good sense – is for those who are devoted to the glory of God and advancement of His kingdom. It is for the disciple of Christ who has no higher preference than to be like Him. Dallas Willard
“Are we ready to be in business with God? If you find yourself in a position where you can honestly say God has never spoken to me, then you well might ask, why should God speak to me? What am I doing in life that would make speaking to me a reasonable thing for Him to do? Are we in business together in life? Or am I in business just for myself, trying to ‘use a little God’ to advance my projects?” Willard
“As for me, I never lived, I was half dead, I was a rotting tree, until I reached the place where I wholly, with utter honesty, resolved and then re-resolved that I would find God’s will, and I would do that will though every fiber in me said no, and I would win the battle in my thoughts. It was as though some deep artesian well had been struck in my soul…You and I shall soon blow away from our bodies. Money, praise, poverty, opposition, these make no difference, for they will all alike be forgotten in a thousand years, but this spirit which comes to a mind set upon continuous surrender, this spirit is timeless.” Frank Laubach
“Our understanding must grow before we can have any significant appreciation of what we are experiencing on occasions when God intervenes in our lives. We must have the correct general understanding of God and His ways.” Willard
We have to come to know the character of God and who He is, how He operates, and to an extent, His identity. But this only comes to fruition through countless time spent developing a living, breathing relationship. We as people have to desire God in a real, unadulterated fashion.
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Hi, Drew:
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that "hearing" from God is a facility prone to error and bias -- as when Amy Grant "heard" God "release" her from her first marriage vows.
Since God may speak when and how He chooses, and thus individual messages to particular believers are certainly possible, do you suggest some means by which purportedly Divine messages may be authenticated?
Hey, Drew:
ReplyDeleteYou're right, of course...Amy Grant's divorce was specifically contrary to Scripture. And yet, she divorced anyway; her "word" from God trumped the Word Of God. That's exactly the problem with personal revelation, and it's why I use the Amy Grant example.
But even in less egregious examples, where the personal revelation is not explicitly contradicted by Scripture, this same dynamic is widespread in the contemporary Protestant Church. Persons who are vocally supportive of Sola Scriptura and vehemently against substituting the "traditions of men" for the authority of that Scripture somehow think nothing of augmenting Scripture with their own "revelations." This tendency is most pronounced in charismatic churches, IMO and experience, and when it is demonstrated by leaders it can appear disturbingly cultic; some pastors (in my experience) all but present their "revelations" as canonical, and any rational scepticism regarding the purported revelation's authenticity is treated as de facto heresy.
The peer review you suggest for determining revelational authenticity appears to me inadequate and flawed. Peers may check for internal consistency and Scriptural contradictions, but that is not the same as a determination of authenticity and veracity. [Unlike the Grant anecdote, there is nothing in Scripture that prohibits me from building a scale model of Jerusalem in my living room, but it doesn't then follow that if I claim God told me to build one then the "revelation" is real.]
What is the application? Well, Scripture has set the bar exceedingly high for those who claim to hear from God, calling those persons "prophets." The penalty for false prophecy was extreme, and such prophets were only mistaken once. Though such penalties no longer apply, it seems to me that the Scriptural model for testing personal revelation is to treat it with extreme gravity, intense scepticism, and rigourous examination.
In short, it seems to me that the "still small voice" so popularly heard in the Church and attributed to God has absolutely no room for equivocation, ambiguity, or error.