Hearing God Pt. 1
The idea of hearing the voice of God can seem overwhelming at first. You might be wondering if it’s even possible to distinguish between God’s voice and your own. So many thoughts go through your head that it is difficult to know which ones have been put there by God. You say to yourself, “I sure don’t want to mistake my own thought for God’s voice!” This is a common sentiment, but let’s take a step back and address the fact that God does speak to us and wants us to hear His voice.
I once heard a preacher say that God is like John Wayne in that He doesn’t talk much. If that is your view, then your faith in hearing the voice of God will be reduced. If God never says much, how can you expect to hear His voice? Thinking that God rarely and randomly speaks to you means you are pretty much on your own. This limited thinking will lead you to seek other “more reliable” sources for direction because God is quiet.
To set the record straight, let’s let the written Word tell us about the spoken word of God.
1. God is always speaking.
“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
In this text, Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 8:3. In these two passages of Scripture, the message is clear. Our spiritual lives depend on hearing the voice of God just like our bodies need food. It we look a little deeper, we will discover an even more profound truth in the final phrase of Matthew 4:4: “every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
The word “proceedeth” tells the story. The word ending in “-eth” in seventeenth-century English means “it continues to.” In other words, you could say, “Every word continues to proceed out of the mouth of God.” Both the Hebrew text in Deuteronomy 8:3 מוֹצָא (mowtsa) and the Greek text ἐκπορεύομαι (ek-por-yoo'-om-ahee) in Matthew 4:4 confirm this definition of “proceedeth.” Both languages use the idea of flowing like a river or a spring. We can conclude that just as a river is always flowing, God is always speaking! Our job, then, is to get in the flow.
2. God wants us to hear His voice.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27, ASV).
Simply put, if you are His sheep, you will hear His voice! You should expect to hear God speaking to you. He desires to guide you as a shepherd guides His sheep.
Once you have established that God speaks consistently and that you can and should hear His voice every day, then you are ready to start hearing.
Say a simple prayer with me. “Lord, I believe You want to speak to me and guide my life. Help me to recognize Your voice among all the other voices around me. Most important, Lord, help me to obey.”