“Speak Lord…”

Can you hear when God speaks to you? Usually we are so inundated with our ‘noise’ that we drown out the voice of God. Many people wake up to the news, talk on their cell phones while commuting to work, listen to a radio while working, and then tune out to music or the sound of the television to help them fall asleep. How can we hear God speaking when He can’t find a silent moment?!

The 300 years of God’s silence between Malachi and John the Baptist must have been eerie. Imagine waiting that long to hear the voice of a friend or loved one! Imagine having to wait that long to receive revelation about your life! When God does speak, He chooses to speak in several unique ways:

Audibly. I’m not advocating any of us actually trying to listen to voices in our head! But in 1 Samuel 3, God calls out to Samuel in the middle of the night, and Samuel mistakes God’s voice for Eli’s. This happens three more times, until Eli realizes that God wants to speak to young Sammy. Samuel is instructed to wait for the voice, and then to respond with, “speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening”. In many ways, this is what Christians experience the least. Could there be a better way to hear from God?

Circumstances. In Judges 6, Gideon would prefer to trust in the circumstances then in God’s voice. If our faith depended on everything visibly working out or coming together, we would be spiritual infants! On this side of heaven, we cannot trust in our circumstances as the testing ground for hearing from God. Occasionally God will use our life situations to reveal Himself to us. Perhaps there is a more sure way to hear from God…

Other Believers. This is more than Christian ‘yes’ men. When we are living in true Christ-like community, we will be sharpening one another like iron sharpens iron. Proverbs 27:9 says that "the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel". Often God uses other strong believers in our lives, as multitudes of counselors, to give us biblical, godly advice that is directly from God’s mouth to our ears.

The Word. Hebrews 1:1 says that God used to speak at various times and in various ways, but in these last days the mode of communication He prefers is through His Son. John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh. Revelation 19:13 has a glimpse of Jesus and His name is “the Word of God”. God desires to speak through the Jesus, the Word. Often in our normal daily times in scripture, God will give us relevant revelation for wherever we are in our lives. Are you asking God to speak to you?

He who has ears…let Him hear!
-Pilgrim