“‘Dost thou believe on the Son of God?’ And he answered and said, ‘Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him'” John 9:35,36
Dear Ones:
When Samuel, the prophet of the Lord, was a boy, he ministered to Eli the high priest, and served in the temple. There came a day that the Lord called Samuel by name several times. Eli was the first person to realize that the Lord was speaking to Samuel, for as the Scriptures declare: “Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord revealed unto him.” (1 Samuel 3:7) The discernment and recognition of the Lord’s presence, Person, and voice, became apparent when Samuel responded to the Lord’s voice by declaring: “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” (3:9) This was the beginning for Samuel, in his experience of hearing the voice of God, understanding what He said, and being able to communicate it to others, in this case, to Eli concerning his sons.
In Psalm 29:9, we discover a verse that speaks of the “voice of the Lord:” “…The voice of the Lord makes the hinds (deer) to calve…” Now, we might think this strange that the voice of God is involved in the calving by deer. But this fact serves as a illustration that the “voice of the Lord” is not always an audible one, nor one that meets our criteria for language. Yes, God does speak audibly. He spoke to Samuel, to Moses, to Saul on the road to Damascus. The Lord Jesus spoke to the multitudes of his day, and specifically to His disciples. Even in the book of Revelations, we find the picture of the Lord coming to the door, knocking, and then declaring: “If any man hear My voice…” What is the Lord seeking to communicate to us? It is that He speaks to us, sometimes audibly, sometimes by the very conviction and assurance that He gives by His Spirit. When the Apostle Paul speaks of the peace of God being an umpire of the heart, to discern that which is of God and not, He is writing of God who “speaks” by His Spirit to our hearts. Though God may choose not to use language, He does so for the sake of clarity and comprehension. From the book of Genesis to the end of Revelation, we have the written word of God, that voice of God put into human language, Hebrew then Greek. Since there are so many languages throughout the world, we find that God gave to the church a mandate to give forth His word in every language and dialect. This is seen on the day of Pentecost, when the Jews assembled in Jerusalem, heard the “wonderful works of God” declared to all of the people, every one in their own tongue. God knows how to speak to us, as His children, but also as His sheep. For the most part, it is safe to say that He will invariably speak according to the written word of God. But He also speaks by His Spirit. The Spirit of God has been given to us to reveal the things of God to us, and part of that ministry is to teach us, and give us what we should know and speak. He will never lead us contrary to the truth of the objective word of God, but will invariably take us beyond what our small concepts are, enlarging the place of our feet as our hearts are receptive to His voice.
Discerning the voice of God, even in the Word of God, sometimes is not easy. We might even say it is impossible without the Spirit of God. Why? The first reason is that we need to know and understand what the Lord is saying. Without the utter dependence upon the “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, ” we shall never discern. The Spirit of God is that one who reveals the things freely given to us of God. Secondly, there are a good many competing voices, which distract and some times drown out the quiet, yet clear voice of God.
Dear Father, Make us to hear Thy voice in utter clarity. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad