Dear Pastor Chris,
Sir, I often hear my Pastor and fellow brethren say they heard God speak to them. I have been a christian for almost two years but have not heard this voice in my experience. Is it automatic to hear him once you become a Christian or does it take time to hear him so audibly?
~Andrew
Dear Andrew,
Yes, God definitely speaks to us. I am convinced that He is saying more to us than we usually hear.
Why don’t we hear God?
1. Our lives are too busy. We get crowded in our schedules. We don’t make time for God.
2. We are not listening. When we do try to listen, we are easily distracted.
3. We are not sensitive to His “still small voice” His “gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:2, KJV, NIV).
How do you listen to God? Set aside a place to meet with Him. Pray. Tell God that you are wanting to hear from Him. Tell Him that you are ready and available to do what He says. Open your Bible. Read a passage. Ask God to reveal the meaning of that passage to you. Compare that passage to other Bible verses on the same subject. Think about what you have just read. Meditate on it. Ask God to show you what these verses meant to the original hearers. Then ask Him what He wants you to do about what you just read. He will prompt your heart to take action on what He has shown you.
You asked about the audible voice of God. The Lord does not speak audibly to most people. He can of course, but it is not His usual way. He did speak audibly to some of the people we read about in the Bible; however, they were the exception. Most people in the days when the Bible was being written never heard the audible voice of God.
Do people sometimes hear the audible voice of God today? Yes. Sometimes.
Why doesn’t God speak audibly more often?
1. God doesn’t need to speak audibly for most of us because He has already done so in the writings of the Bible. The Bible is God’s Word. In the pages of the Bible we find the mind and heart of God. We meet Him there and His Spirit helps us understand what He wants us to know.
2. God doesn’t need to speak audibly because He has given us His best Word in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible says in
John 1:1-2, 14, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning…
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus is the living Word of God. To know Jesus is to know God. To walk with Jesus is to experience God. Therefore, to study the life of Jesus is to discover what God is like, how He relates to us, and how He acts in history.
Read the Bible. Study it. God speaks through it. Listen.
~Pastor Chris