I must admit that I am always a little leery when people say God spoke to them and told them to do this or that. Now I do not doubt God has the ability to audibly speak to us, but I do doubt it happens as often as people claim in this day and age. It gets a little tricky because sometimes what God supposedly tells one person contradicts what he supposedly tells someone else. And I really get irritated when those claiming to have audibly heard God’s voice think those who haven’t are lesser Christians. Some would have us believe that God speaking audibly to people should be the rule, not the exception. I don’t think so. It wasn’t even really the norm in biblical times either.
Occasionally God did speak to individuals in the Bible. God spoke to Adam (Genesis 3:9). God spoke to Abraham (Genesis 12:1). God spoke directly to Moses (Exodus 4). God spoke to Joshua (Joshua 1). Of course, God also spoke to Balaam’s ass (Numbers 22:22-40) which leads me to believe that if God were to actually speak audibly to us it might not mean we are all that special.
If we listen carefully we find God has many different ways to speak to us other than audibly. Here are a few: He can speak to us through the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:12; 13:2) which might come as an inner voice. He can speak to us through a feeling of guidance (Isaiah 30:19-21). He can speak to us through the wise counsel of others (Proverbs 12:15). He can speak to us through our conscience (1 Timothy 1:5). God can speak to us through events (James 1:2-5). He can speak to us through nature (Romans 1:20). God can speak to us through circumstances (Mark 4:19). However when we let the circumstances or cares of this world overwhelm us they can choke out God’s Word.
Why is that so important? Because the main ways God definitely speaks to all of us is through his Word (2 Timothy 3:16; Isaiah 55:11; Psalm 119:105) and through Jesus, his son (Hebrews 1:1-2)! Unfortunately people are far too busy to read God’s Word, the Bible. This is quite sad because everything we really need to know is in the Bible (2 Peter 1:3) and God has chosen to speak to us mostly through his Word.
If we do not know the Word of God how do we know who is speaking to us? How do we know it is the voice of God we hear? The newspapers are filled with accounts of people killing others because they heard the “voice of God” tell them to do so. These people would hold fast to the claim that God spoke to them audibly. We forget Satan as well as God has the power to speak to us. If someone claims to hear the voice of God but brings a message that contradicts the Bible we need to beware for God tells us many will do that (Matthew 24:4-5). How will we know the message is from God if we don’t know what the Bible says?
Many times people don’t really claim to have a message from God as much as God telling them what decision to make. I’ve literally heard different people say God told them to take a new job, move to a different state, start a specific ministry, or marry a certain person. I never contradict these conversations. In fact, I marvel at them. How I wish God would tell me such things! I think it would be wonderful if God would do this for everyone. However, does that not take away the reasoning power God gave us? God gave us the ability to think, gather information, and process data. He even gave us the Bible to guide us into making wise decisions. It is so much easier to say, “God told me to do it” than do the research ourselves and accept responsibility for decisions we make.
Perhaps we need to be cautious when we think we hear God’s voice. Are we truly hearing God’s voice or are we just trying to convince ourselves God approves of what we are doing? Remember the true voice of God doesn’t always tell us what we want to hear. Sometimes it’s quite the opposite.
