I want to have more than an intellectual assent of God. It’s not enough for me to simply believe that he exists. It’s not even enough to see him answer my prayers or to know that I will see him in heaven one day, as wonderful as those things are. I want, no, I crave for feedback from God, to hear from him, to experience a relationship with him. Some might say that is not possible, that God doesn’t work that way; that I just need to trust him. Or that he stopped speaking to us after the last word was penned in the Bible and those words are all we’ll ever need. While I cherish my Bible and believe that scripture is the primary way he speaks to us, I don’t think God cuts off communication the minute we close our Bibles and head out the door to face our day. When Jesus said to abide and remain in him, I don’t think he meant that would only happen when we have a Bible in front of us. We are told to pray without ceasing and I believe that prayer works both ways.
What’s keeping us from hearing God?
The first thing we need to ask ourselves is, “What is my motive? What do I want to do with the information the Lord gives me? Is it to serve him better or to get something I want? Am I willing to obey what he tells me to do? Is there a persistent, unconfessed sin that is keeping me distant from him? Have I given him a good reason to speak to me by the way I live?”
If a self-examination has revealed pure motives, then perhaps our signal bars are too low and the static is too loud (distractions) and we need to improve our reception. We have to prepare ourselves to listen to God. My cousin, Curtis Coleman, wrote a devotional book called Stop, Look, and Listen. He describes an African safari where the natives carrying the gear would not go out on the seventh day. They said, “We do not go today, we rest today—we must let our souls catch up with our bodies.”
Another reason we may not be hearing from God is that we really don’t expect him to speak to us. But he does just that through the Holy Spirit who guides, teaches, and encourages us. There are three places back in my woods that I like to pray but my favorite is on a rock ledge. When I get out there early enough I can watch the sun come up. It’s my favorite spot because that’s where I hear from God more than any other place. I eagerly go regardless of the weather because I fully expect to meet the Lord there and hear from him and feel his presence. Bob Sorge, in Secrets of the Secret Place, says,
“Intimacy precedes insight. First comes the secret place, then comes divine guidance. God doesn’t simply want to get you on the right path; He wants to enjoy you throughout the journey. He doesn’t want you to discover His will and then take off running, leaving Him in the dust. God’s primary desire is that you draw near to Him and come to know Him. God wants to be known!”
If you’ve tried everything you know of to get an answer from God on something and you’ve waited on him for a good period of time but he appears to be silent, you shouldn’t automatically come to the conclusion that you’re doing something wrong. God may want you to stay put or he might be giving you the freedom to choose for yourself. As we grow closer to him and get engaged in his work, we won’t need to be told what to do all the time. We’ll learn what’s important to him and respond accordingly. He’s already told us a lot of things to do in the Bible! Getting direction from God is not the only thing we should be seeking, anyway. We can also enjoy a conversational relationship with him, inviting him into everything we do.
How does God speak to us?
God uses many ways to communicate with his people. So far in my life, God has not spoken to me audibly. Scripture is the primary way God speaks to us, provided we ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand what he wants us to consider. But I believe he also uses people, events, and circumstances to get through to us, as well. Has God ever given you words to say to help or encourage a friend?
Have you ever had a thought so profound and powerful that it would not be any clearer if someone spoke it to you? Or a persistent inclination or prompting that won’t go away? If we are attentive and receptive, the Holy Spirit will impresses upon our thoughts and feelings to communicate with us. It’s kind of like learning a new language, or for that matter, a new accent in a different part of the country.
Soon after I moved from Chicago to Huntsville, Alabama, I was in church hearing a lady talk about the woman at the whale. I was confused, so I asked, “You mean Jonah and the whale?” She said, “No, silly, the woman at the whale, not Jonah. And Jesus was there, too!” It took me awhile, but I eventually learned to understand southern talk, which included cutting out the vowel “i,” adding syllables to words like ambulance (ambulayance,) and changing my bub (bulb) and my o (oil). And don’t forget to put out that “far.” But to be fair, they had to learn my Yankee talk, too!
The longer you experience a close walk with Christ, the better you’ll get at recognizing the distinctive characteristics of his voice amidst all the other thoughts coming at you.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing & perfect will. (Romans 12:2).
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Dwell in His secret place 