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Hearing God’s voice, part 2

In my last post on hearing God’s voice I shared how God’s voice is a familiar one.  Today I want to re-visit a passage from Exodus.  In Exodus 3 God is sending Moses to speak to Pharaoh about freeing the Israelites.  The story picks up in verse 13:

¹³Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

¹⁴God said to Moses, “I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

–Exodus 3:13-14 (NIV)

While it may seem unusual to us that Moses accepted God’s self-identification as, “I Am,” in fact God was illustrating something to Moses:  He is the God who was, is, and is to come.  Ever-existent.  Ever-present.  Before everything and never-ending.  The interesting element to the story is the sheer weight of authority God’s response carried–the very same Jesus carried while speaking with the Jews.  While Moses continued to question God about the whole ordeal, he accepted God’s answer of who He is.

This is the next element in recognizing the voice of God:  God’s voice carries an inexplicable authority.  It’s the voice whose direction never stops speaking to you.  It has a sense of urgency or importance that keeps coming to mind–day after day, at seemingly random moments–until you follow it through.

We’ll cover this in more depth shortly, but it’s also important to remember that any direction God gives will align with the Bible.

Hearing God’s voice

Over the years I’ve made some observations that have led me to believe followers of Christ often face what seems to be an on-going challenge:  hearing God’s voice.  Sometimes people struggle with how God speaks to them.  Other times the question is, “What does His voice sound like?”  Or, “How can one know he or she is really receiving God’s direction?”

Believe it or not, this is a natural, human struggle–and I don’t believe it was ever in God’s original design.  In fact, everything I read in the Bible points me to the same conclusion:  God wants a relationship with people, and relationships are only developed when there is bilateral communication.

In the Old Testament there was a prophet by the name of Samuel.  He was born from a woman, Hannah, who for many years was considered barren (unable to conceive a child).  Hannah made a promise to God that if He would give her a child she would dedicate him to Him.  God granted Hannah her desire and Hannah fulfilled her part of the vow.

Samuel’s first encounter with God can be found in 1 Samuel 3:

¹The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.

²One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. ³The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. ⁴Then the LORD called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” ⁵And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

⁶Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

⁷Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. ⁹So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

–1 Samuel 3:1-10 (NIV)

Notice the first three times Samuel heard the voice of God he ran to Eli, the priest.  That’s the key:  God’s voice is always a familiar voice.  I have no doubt that Samuel may well have even felt foolish the fourth time saying, “Speak, for your servant is listening,” (notice how he conveniently omitted, “Lord,” in his response, despite Eli’s direction) but he took a step of faith anyway.

The voice of God is always recognizable because it is one that sounds familiar.  Often God’s voice sounds like your own (which, of course, opens another door of potential confusion that will be explored in a future post).

Another interesting element from this passage is that while Samuel recognized the voice, he needed guidance from someone more mature.  This certainly isn’t a requirement, but it does show us that God works through people as much as He works with them.