How I Recognize God’s Voice

I heard God’s voice today.

Oh, not in an audible way, but in a clearly recognizable way.

This is how.

As a writer, I understand “voice” is the term for how I differentiate my characters in a manuscript.

Readers should be able to read my dialogue and recognize which character is speaking without being told. The characters should sound different from each other.

Their statements are consistent with who they are and how they behave.

The same is true with God.

The Bible is our textbook, our guide, our conduit into hearing and recognizing God’s voice.

Since Jesus and the Holy Spirit are also God, their three voices are consistent–from Genesis to Revelation.

The similarity and consistency of God’s voice in three persons is one of the reasons we’re told to “interpret Scripture with Scripture.”

God tells us He does not change.

For that reason, God’s voice may be spoken with a different “accent.” But the intention and meaning are the same from beginning to end.

How I heard God’s voice in a blog post.

While still lying in bed this morning, I asked God to be at work in my life today.

I want to be His hands, His feet, His servant, and to understand what is said to me by others through the filter of His ears and His mind.

By giving the day to God,  I can move forward expectant that whatever happens comes through His direction.

Today I started at the computer, and one of the first things I read came from a former pastor.

Reverend Paul Anderson wrote the following blog post, How to Overcome Presumption, and it caught my attention:

“The God who says, “Behold I do a new thing,” is not obligated to the past. Yesterday does not determine tomorrow. But we who fall into routines can make them into ruts—and miss the Spirit.

“How foolish to think that God will automatically bless our plans because we have creative ideas.

“Good ideas often prove a hindrance to the kingdom of heaven coming into our midst.

So what?

I highlighted what was important to me. You’ll see why.

How Oswald and Biddy spoke God’s voice to me

When I got to the My Utmost for His Highest reading for January 11, my eyes focused on this line:

“A lack of progress in our spiritual life results when we try to bear all the costs ourselves.”

The chord this line struck in my heart actually has nothing to do with the theme of the devotional.

(Hasn’t someone made a remark that turned on the proverbial light bulb? How does something completely unrelated suddenly make sense to you?)

Can you guess the parallel I saw with Anderson’s blog post?

How the Bible spoke in God’s voice to me (duh)

My Old Testament reading this morning was from Judges 7.

It’s the chapter after Gideon‘s famous encounter with God over wet and dry fleeces.

In chapter 7, Gideon and his men sought to destroy the rampaging Midianites. He started with 10,000 men, and God whittles the number down to 300.

Here’s God’s direction in verse 2 of a dramatic story:

“The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’”

Three very different readings all had a message I needed to hear.

Why?

God responds to our circumstances–whether we recognize it or not

I didn’t tell you everything I prayed about this morning.

I’m working on a project today that involves researching how to do something.

My plans included reading recommendations from “experts,” thinking about how to proceed with their advice, and then executing the plan.

I’ve been planning to do this for some time. Consulting experts always seems a good idea (I’ve been saving countless blog posts).

Except–is that what God seems to be telling me to do today?

When I read the Judges passages, I asked God if I should bother reading all those business recommendations.

Would reading them distract me from what God seems to be directing me to do in this circumstance?

What would you do if God spoke to you like this?

Coincidence?

Some might argue that three very different readings from which I heard the same message three times is a coincidence.

Check out my final reading about Zacchaeus in Luke 19  if you want to believe that.

I’m going to take to heart what looks to me like an admonition to consult with God first. Then I’ll follow His direction.

If nothing else, it will save a lot of time, frustration, and achieve His goals, not mine.

And that, Readers, is how I heard God’s voice today.

For those familiar with His voice, does this sound like a familiar path?

Tweetables

How I heard God’s voice today. Click to Tweet

How God speaks through blogs, books, and the Bible.  Click to Tweet

Hearing God’s voice–how? Click to Tweet

Interested in Oswald and Biddy Chambers? I’ve written an eBook about the amazing ways God led me through the writing of two books about them. It’s free if you sign up for my newsletter here.