Can Christians "Hear the Voice of God?" Part 1

Have you ever had someone tell you that God had given them a message for you? Have you ever had someone tell you that God had told them to do something that seemed questionable or at odds with scripture (such as cohabitate with a member of the opposite sex)? Or have you ever had someone justify something that seemed to be blatantly unbiblical (like divorcing a spouse on unbiblical grounds) with the claim "God gave me a peace about it." When I was a college student the staff member of one of the Christian organizations on campus would often counsel students saying, "God impressed me today." If you ask questions or raise challenges, you were admonished for challenging God. Oh.  certainly, these folk would say that God speaks to us through his Word, the Bible, but they would say that we should also expect him to give us individual private revelation (or at least confirmation) through experiences and impressions. Having a relationship with God implies that we have an ongoing "two-way" communication with God, they claim. Those who mature in their faith learn to discern their experience and inclinations so astutely that they can recognize and interpret God's voice (in other words, his revelation to them). One who is not regularly "hearing God's voice" needs to be very concerned about the legitimacy of their own confession? Is this teaching Biblical? What exactly is the nature of a relationship with God?

     The Bible describes unbelievers as "natural men" (1Cor 2:14) and says they cannot even know or understand God or the things of God, but the spiritual man (the person who has turned from their sin to Christ) has "the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16)." We are commanded to " ... love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matthew 22: 37 ESV): and to "worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24), we have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15ESV). A mature connection with the Lord engages every part of our being -- body, soul and spirit. It is to be vital, rich and yes passionate, involving intellect, emotion and will.

 It is growingly popular today for people to claim that a vital rich, passionate mature relationship with God involves "regular two-way communication" with God. A mature disciple is on who hears his voice through daily and ordinary events equated with the audible voice of God. Rev Rich Warren has claimed that assurance of salvation is dependent on one regularly hearing the "voice of God'" that one cannot claim to know Christ unless he or she is "regularly hearing the voice of God?" Dr. Charles Stanley says that his communication with God is so personal that God even tells him what store to go to for the best priced Thanksgiving Day turkey. Dr. Henry Blackaby, author of the popular study EXPERIENCING GOD," claims that the Bible teaches that such experiences are in fact the very word of God. He, and many of his students like Priscilla Shirer, claim the Word of God is not limited to the objective truth of scripture but is just as frequently found in the subjective:   

[14] But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. (Deuteronomy 30:14 ESV)

They claim that as God spoke in the Old Testament, the continues to speak today:

[1] Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, (Hebrews 1:1ESV)

      What could be more important for those of us who desire to walk with Christ, in a culture that is becoming rapidly secularized, then knowing how to hear him speak into the issues of our lives? This is an issue that people are rightfully passionate about and it is vitally important that we get it right. 

    While we recognize the real presence of God in our experience, we are going to seek to show in this series of post's that Christians can and do hear God's voice regularly and consistently through the Word, the Bible, and that the scripture never associates and even warns against relying on subjective experience for private guidance or revelation. Rather than seeking divine guidance through "experiencing God," we are to be very skeptical about such claims. 

The Apostle Peter addresses this issue near the end of his life. He makes it clear that the revelation given to the Apostles is credible:

[16] For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. [17] For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” [18] we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. (2 Peter 1:16–18ESV)

He along with James, and John heard the audible voice of God when Jesus was transfigured before them (Luke 9:28-36) affirming his Diety, yet he says that we have a greater and more reliable means of knowing God's person and purposes for his daily life than even they did:

[19] And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, [emphasis is mine] to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, [20] knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. [21] For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:19–21ESV)

Notice those words --"more fully confirmed." Peter says "[W]e did not follow cleverly devised myths..." when they committed their lives to Christ and instructed his followers. Their testimony was confirmed, not by the transfiguration experience but rather by "the prophetic word." He goes on to caution about private interpretation and tells believers rather than relying on their experience (even as obviously miraculous as The Transfiguration). He says, "you will do well to pay attention, "to ... men [who] spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." For Peter his mission and ministry were confirmed not by the experience of seeing the glorified Christ in person, but it's consistency with the written word of God.

Peter is very clear, while God gave those who saw the Transfigured Jesus an experience of the glorified Christ for them to witness to us, Christ glorified person and work is confirmed in their lives and in ours by the prophetic word, the Bible, rather than by private revelations. The Word of God is the only "voice of God, believers are to give their attention.  The scripture gives confirmation and guidance of God's purpose for us, it is his voice. This is important because it directly contradicts what those in what I call the Experiencing God Movement (heretofore referred to as EGM) claim. They claim that we need experience to confirm the reality of God's word to us, whereas scripture teaches the opposite. That God's confirmation of his purposes for our lives is heard in his Word. In the following installment in this series. I will encourage believers to experience God and to worship him in spirt and truth as they hear his voice in the Bible.