Hearing the Voice of God

A common question asked by Christians is, “How can I hear the voice of God?” Most people desire to know what God wants of them and what God has in store for them. Yet often people do not find an answer.

The Bible tells us that God is ready to speak with us. In fact Jesus declared that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” John 10:27

So the more important question is not “How do I hear the voice of God?” but “Are you willing to hear what God has to say?”

If God spoke to you today what would He say to you?

And would you accept what God said?

The Burning Bush

One of the most dramatic examples of God speaking to someone is that of Moses meeting God at the Burning Bush. In Exodus chapters 3 and 4 we have the record of Moses in the wilderness looking after his father-in-law’s sheep when he sees a burning bush. The bush burns for a long time but is never consumed, and that intrigues Moses, so he goes to see the sight close up.

As Moses approaches the bush God speaks to him and tells him to take off his shoes because it is holy ground.

So this stands out as a most remarkable encounter where a man heard clearly and directly from God.

All those who wish to know what God is saying to them should want a Burning Bush experience, where they can talk with God and hear what God has to say.

Arguing With God

For Moses, however, this encounter was not one that he cherished. It was not a lovely time of meeting with God. In fact it was a very troubling time and one that led Moses to argue vigorously with God.

God called Moses to go back to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to let God’s people go.

Moses responded by asking, “Who am I that I should go?” God reassured Moses by saying, “I will be with you”. Then Moses told God, “I don’t know your name”. God told Moses that God is the great “I AM”, and told Moses to tell the people that “I am that I am has sent you”.

Moses continued to resist God, by declaring, “They will not believe me”. So God gave several supernatural signs to Moses to do, including his rod turning into a serpent. Then Moses argued that he was not eloquent of speech. God reminded Moses that it was God who created the mouth, and so could be with him in his speaking.

Finally Moses told God to, “Send someone else”. And this angered God.

What About You?

Do you really want to hear from God? Moses didn’t, despite the wonderful sight of a burning bush.

Moses did not want to hear what God said to him. Moses resisted God and argued with Him.

Would you really listen to God? Would you readily accept what God says?

What makes you different to Moses?

If God spoke with you today, what would he say to you?

I see in scripture that God gave four kinds of messages that God speaks to people.

If God sent an angel to your home to give you a message from God would you let the angel in, or sneak out the back door and run away?

Voice of Judgment

We see in scripture that God often speaks judgment upon people. In fact, Christians should expect to hear such messages from God because of what Jesus said, that He rebukes those He loves.

“Those I love I rebuke and chasten” Revelation 3:19

We also have the sobering message that God told Jonah to say to Nineveh. His warning was that “God sees what you have been doing”.

“Go tell Nineveh that ‘God sees your wickedness!’” Jonah 1:2

How would you feel if an angel came to your house to warn you that “God has been watching you, and has seen what you have done”? Would that be an encouragement or a fearful thought to you?

The similar thought was brought to Belshazzar by Daniel, warning him that he has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. That very night his kingship would come to an end.

“Belshazzar, You have failed to meet God’s standard!” Daniel 5:25-28

And consider the New Testament warning by Paul, that God will not be mocked. You will get what you deserve.

“God will not be mocked! What a man sows is what will grow in his life.” Galatians 6:7,8
Which one of those messages would you like to have given to you?

God’s Call to Action

The angel of God came to Gideon and told him that God saw him as a “mighty man of valour”. He was instructed to go out and fight the Midianites that were oppressing Israel (see Judges 6:11,12).

Gideon did not want that message and struggled to believe it.

On the other hand we have the lovely example of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The angel came to her to advise her that she would have a baby and He would be the Christ (see Luke 1:30,31,38).

Mary asked, how can this happen since I am not married? The angel told her that the Holy Spirit would put sperm in her womb so the child would be from man and from God.

Mary’s response was to say, “Let it happen to me according to your word”. She did not argue as Moses had done.

Power of the Call

We see often in scripture that God calls people who do not feel adequate for the task. The reason God can do this is because the call itself has power embedded in it.

The Apostle Paul reflected on this in Romans 4:17, when he recounted how Abraham believed God’s promise. Paul said that God calls things into existence.

The very call itself has the power to fulfil the promise. Gideon became a mighty man. Saul became a king. Mary became the mother of a child, without any man being involved.

The angel that came to Mary further explained how this can be when he told her that Mary’s aged cousin Elisabeth was expecting her first child. The angel simply stated, “With God nothing is impossible”, Luke 1:37.

Do not fear the call of God. Embedded in the call is the power to make what seems impossible a reality in your life.

Blessing

God has met with people in history in order to bring blessing to them.

God came to Abraham and told him, “I will bless you, and make your name great; and you will be a blessing”, Genesis 12:1-3.

God came to King Solomon and told him that “I will give you riches and honour”, 1Kings 3:5-14.

Jabez asked God for some pretty good blessings, including that he would have larger influence and be protected from evil. God granted those requests, 1Chronicles 4:10.

So it may be that the angel sent to your home with a message from God is there to confer blessing on you, or to tell you that God has heard your prayers and will grant your requests.

Guidance

Another message that God gives to His people is that of guidance.

The prophet Isaiah tells us that we will hear God’s voice telling us which way to go.

“And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left.” Isaiah 30:21

In the New Testament we have several examples of God’s guidance in the book of Acts.

Philip the evangelist was instructed to go into the desert and when he arrived there he saw a chariot. God instructed him to go to the chariot. The result was the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch, Acts 8:26-29.

The apostle Paul was clearly led to go to Macedonia, after being blocked by God from going in several other directions, Acts 16:9.

So it might be that an angel sent to you home has come to give you directions from God.

Do You Want to Hear?

I come again to the question, “Are you willing to hear what God has to say?”

It’s one thing to wish for God to speak, but if He did, would you listen? Or would you be like Moses and Gideon, reacting to what God said and trying to shrink away from it?

If you had your own, personal Burning Bush, would you use it?

If you could break a twig off the Burning Bush and pull it out when you need an answer, sticking it in the ground, having it fire up, and then being able to speak directly with God, would you want such a thing?

Would you believe what God says, or would you argue with it?

A Personal Burning Bush

I recently saw Theresa Dedmon from Behhtel Church in Redding California create prophetic art in Melbourne and I was blessed by what her picture spoke to me. When I chatted with her later, she did not have in mind the message I received. So I see this as a prophetic message that I am to share.

Her painting depicted a tree that was growing out of an open Bible. She had in the mind the Tree of Life. But she painted it with a yellow glow upon the branches, and that spoke to me of the burning bush.

What the picture spoke to me was that the Burning Bush of Moses’ day was rooted in the Bible. The Bible is the source of God’s word to us, and so anything we would hear from a Burning Bush experience is simply a manifestation of what is already said to us by God in the Bible.

The Bible is our “more sure word of prophecy”, 2Peter 1:19, and so it is our Personal Burning Bush.

Any time you want a Burning Bush experience all you need do is pick up your Bible and open its pages.

But Here’s the Rub

Just because the Bible is God’s Word and it is your Personal Burning Bush, does not mean you will hear from God.

Moses resisted what God said. Moses argued with God.

And isn’t that what many Christians do when they read the Bible?

They find excuses why they don’t rejoice ever more, cast all their cares upon Him, forgive those who offend them, rest in confidence in God, confess Christ before men, and so on.

They struggle to believe the promises of God. They fail to rise to the calling of holiness God asks of them. They fail to stop loving the world and the things in the world. In fact, most Christians only accept those parts of the Bible that suit them.

It is Time to Hear God

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”, John 10:27.

Open your heart to God’s Word. Let God Challenge and Correct You, Call you to action, Bless You and Guide You.

Take out your personal burning bush and listen to what God is saying to you from His word, the Bible. And this time DO what God’s word tells you to do.

Being called by God is a journey. It is not a destination. And the call is progressive as it takes us deeper into the purposes of God.

Peter’s experience exemplifies this so let’s review the historical record of Peter’s encounter with Jesus to see what you can expect as you respond to the call of God.

Peter’s Encounter with Jesus

Peter met Jesus at the time of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, at the Jordan River. While we are not told that Peter was a disciple of John the Baptist, it is evident that he and his friends were impressed and touched by John’s ministry.

That is why they had journeyed from Galilee, where they left their fishing boats idle while they went to get right with God. We can be pretty sure that Peter had been baptised by John, possibly not long before Jesus was, maybe even on the same day.

A Second Encounter with Jesus

After that initial encounter Peter, James and John had to return to their fishing boats and their livelihood. They had heard John’s prophecy about Jesus and had been introduced to Jesus as the “lamb of God”. They were among the very first people to encounter Jesus as He began His ministry. Now, however, they were many miles away from the Jordan River, back on the shores of Lake Galilee.

Jesus came to them and called them to “Follow Me”. Jesus promised to make the “fishers of men”. Peter, James and John all left their boats and their fishing nets to follow Jesus. They had come under the call of God and responded to it.

The Call of God

There are many things that could be said about the call of God. We know that when God calls us the very call itself brings with it the power for its fulfilment.

“Faithful is he that calls you, who also will do it.” 1Thessalonians 5:24

We also know that when God calls us He does not change His mind, nor abandon that call, even if we make a mess of it. The Biblical statement to that effect is that the “gifts and callings of God are without repentance”, which means God does not change His mind about it.

“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Romans 11:29

Peter’s Journey

For about three and a half years Peter and the other disciples journeyed with Him, learned from Him, saw His miracles and were activated into the supernatural, being empowered to do miracles themselves. It must have been a heady time for them all, but most especially for Peter, James and John who were given privileged treatment. They alone saw the transfiguration and the raising of Jairus’ daughter.

When Jesus was betrayed, however, they were just like the other disciples. They all fled. Peter, to his shame, also denied Jesus three times over that dreadful night of His betrayal and trial. This must have been a deeply challenging reality in Peter’s experience, since it was fulfilment of a prophecy from Jesus which Peter had denied would happen.

A New Encounter

Following Jesus’ resurrection Peter saw the empty tomb and met the resurrected Jesus. Then came an encounter back on the shores of Galilee. There Peter experienced his second calling to follow Jesus, possibly very close to where he was called the first time, years before.

Peter and some of the disciples had gone fishing in Peter’s boat. They caught nothing until a lone man on the shore called to them and instructed them to drop net on the other side of the boat. They did so and caught a huge catch. At that point someone realised that the man on the shore was none other than Jesus, Himself. Peter swam ashore and met His lord once again.

Jesus Deals with Peter

Jesus then interrogated Peter about Peter’s love for Jesus. Three times Jesus asked, “Do you love me?” Jesus was ploughing deep into Peter’s soul and reducing him to a desperate cry, that Jesus knew him intimately and could tell that he was admitting the truth when he said “Yes”.

Since that first call to follow Jesus, Peter had experienced the heights of walking with Jesus. But he also experienced the depths of personal failure. He now knew that he had nothing to offer Jesus. He now knew that God’s call on his life was not based on what Peter brought to Jesus but on what Jesus brought to Peter.

Peter had failed Jesus. All of his arrogant self-assurance was decimated by his humiliating and bitter denial of Jesus. Yet the call of God on Peter’s life was without repentance. God had not given up on Peter nor revoked the call on his life.

Follow Me

Jesus repeated to Peter what He had said over three years before. “Follow Me!” Here we see that the call of God comes again to our life, once we have failed and faltered in our fulfilment of that call. The call comes the second time to call us to follow, not in the confidence of our ability, but in humble submission as stumbling saints. The call comes again to show us that God is not basing the call on our ability to succeed but on His choice to call us. The whole process is sovereign, on His part, not energised by what we bring to God.

Peter Gets Distracted

Peter was then told something about his own future. His impulsive response was to ask Jesus about one of the others near him. Jesus reply was a gentle rebuke that what God had in store for anyone else was not Peter’s business. By this Jesus was revealing that our part in serving Him has nothing to do with what others are doing or what others will be led into. We must do what we are called to do, irrespective of those who succeed or fail around us, and irrespective of how our journey differs from others.

Here we see that the call of God is personal. It is not something that is subject to analysis based on how ours compares with others. Instead it is something that is to be lived and pursued to the full whether we must journey alone or with a great throng. It must be pursued whether our path is unique or a carbon copy of what others are doing.

And Again, “Follow Me”

Following Jesus’ rebuke to Peter, Jesus repeats one more time the call to “Follow Me”. Here Jesus set the seal on the call on Peter’s life.

It is as if Jesus had said to him in the sequence of these different calls, “Peter, Follow Me and I will make you a fisher of men.” Then when Peter had experienced both success and failure Jesus came to him again to say, “Peter, you are to Follow Me, not because of who or what you are, but because I have called you. My call is what is important, not who and what you are.” Then it is as if Jesus added, “Peter, your call is unique, so don’t look at those around you. Just go and fulfil what I have called you to do.”

God’s Call on Your Life

So that’s what the call of God is all about in your life. May God give you grace to hear His call and to respond to it in faith and faithfulness, despite your own limitations, and irrespective of those around you who have a different deal or who shame Christ or outshine you along the way. Just be what God has called you to be, with all the power and grace He gives you to fulfil that call.

The account of Jesus final calls on Peter to “Follow Me” are found in John 21.