Hearing God's Voice

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Mike asked me to come and speak tonight on hearing God’s voice and I was so excited. Not because this is an easy topic to talk about, but because it’s so needed. In the church we talk about the voice of God like it’s something that everyone understands and can easily decipher. Meanwhile, people are sitting in the pews assuming that they’re the bad Christians if the pastor touts an incredible relationship with God and they don’t know if they’ve ever even heard the voice of God before.

So before we even dive into the text or talk about the main points, let me disspell a couple of myths that might be running through your heads right now.

I’m not up here because I have a flawless track record in hearing the voice of God or understanding the Scriptures when it comes to the voice of God.

I’m not up here because I have a degree in the Bible or have been preaching for years.

I’m not up here judging you, if you don’t know whether you’ve ever heard the voice of God or not.

Here’s some truth:

I’m up here because of the tenacity that God placed in me to never give up. It’s that tenacity that kept me pursuing His voice and an understanding of the Scriptures when nothing made sense.

I did go to Bible school, but I was faithful to redirect when God told me to. And He’s done more with that redirection than I could have done with any Bible College degree.

I’m not judging you, instead I’m excited. If you feel like you’ve never heard the voice of God- then you’re about to be released from trying to force it.

Hearing the voice of God comes with presence and patience, followed by practice= faith.

We have to spend unhurried time in His presence to hear His voice. Stepping out in faith to practice what we’ve heard.

The only way that you’ll know for sure that it was God not you, is to try it and see.

23  The steps of a man are established by the Lord,

when he delights in his way;

24  though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,

for the Lord upholds his hand.

(Possibly a different translation NIV?)

Psalm 37:23-24

Did you know that when you try to do something in pursuit of the Lord and ya mess it up- there’s an extra covering of grace from God? I love this image of being cast headlong. Headlong is kind of an old school word, but the idea is that it’s one of those moments where you’re rushing around- let’s be real you’re running late, definitely carrying your coffee and wearing a white shirt- when suddenly you trip over your own feet and you’re falling slow motion headfirst, seeing your coffee go before you. Suddenly everything hurts and you’re wearing the only good thing about your day so far as you walk into work.

This is the Biblical idea of headlong- bumps and bruises mixed with a good dose of shame.

We assume in hearing and then following the voice of God that we are sure to mess it up and end up walking around with our heads hung low because we messed up. But the only time that the Word specifically mentions the word shame is as a result of outright sin and denying the Lord. Not once does it say that the pursuit of the Lord mixed with our shortcomings will result in shame. Instead we’re encouraged that in our shortcomings we will be upheld by the hand of the Lord.

Uphold in this verse is the Hebrew word (smk) meaning to sustain, support, help, unflinching, firm

One of the English translations of this word is befall- meaning to happen to. If we insert the word befall in this last verse it reads “for the Lord befalls his hand”

Moses

1 Samuel 3:1-10- Needing Leaders to Help us Clarify the Voice of God

Deuteronomy 5:27 “Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’”

John 1:1-18 “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. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, an…”

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Perceptions of History and the Future

The people of the ancient Near East viewed themselves as standing at the convergence of two fields: In front was the knowledge people had regarding the past, including knowledge of their ancestors and their customs; behind them was an obscure future of which they knew nothing (Glassner, Mesopotamian Chronicles, 7). Knowledge of the past provided a standard by which ancient persons could evaluate their own present social roles and experiences (Assmann, “Dialogue,” 396). Yet ancient peoples did not perceive knowledge of the past in terms of a precise recounting of events. Rather, prophets, priests, and palace officials would perceive events in the present as messages from the gods. They would in turn use these messages to explain past or present events—often to legitimize a royal or theological agenda (Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought, 224). The knowledge the common person gleaned from these messages was neither an accurate nor a faulty understanding of the past and present; rather, it was an understanding of the reason for their current experience. Only the gods held knowledge of the future, and a select few people were the recipients of this divine revelation (see Jewish apocalyptic literature).

KNOWLEDGE (דַּעַת, da'ath; γνῶσις, gnōsis; ἐπίγνωσις, epignōsis). Refers to having understanding or familiarity. In the Old Testament, knowledge is primarily related to experience and relationship. The New Testament developed more epistemological concepts of knowledge.

English Standard Version Chapter 14

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 10:3–4.

We have to be in the Word.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

4 But he answered, “It is written,

“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

(Quote from Deuteronomy 8:3)