If you clicked on this blog, I’m guessing that hearing God’s voice hasn’t been the clearest facet of Christianity to understand. In the Bible, we see men like Moses and Abraham hear God so audibly- or so we assume. Moses goes to a burning bush, Abraham is told to sacrifice his son. Both situations are seemingly ridiculous unless the men were certain it was God talking to them.
Which they were.
I’m not. I’m almost never certain that I’m actually hearing God. When I think I’m hearing Him, its not clear enough to follow without doubt. I’ve heard Him give crazy directions. I’ve followed them, and they ended up being true. BUT I’ve followed others, and I was completely wrong. I’ve been wrong in hearing Him, and at times, I’ve gotten extremely flustered with the idea of hearing God. Wasn’t hearing God supposed to be restful? Without burden? It felt the opposite.
I wish I could give a step by step guide on hearing God. I’ve looked for those, but I’ve realized that they didn’t exactly work for me. I seemed to hear God a lot differently than others. I got jealous of my friend who heard from God so vividly. I got jealous of the people who would get “words of knowledge” for people… or people that didn’t get anxious at the idea of being asked, “Well, what did God tell you about it?”
The truth is: no step-by-step guide worked for me because I am not the same as anyone else.
I hate that its taken me so many jealousy-infused years to realize this. I may not hear God’s voice in the same way that my friends do, but that doesn’t make the way I hear it worse.
Maybe God talks differently to us all because most parents talk to their unique children differently. My mom, for example, knows my sister’s personality enough not to talk to her in the exact way she talks to me. My sister is unique, and is encouraged in daughtership differently than I am.
Why would it not be the same with God? Sure, there are some things God would never say. He doesn’t lie, He is good, He loves us. But, in terms of how He talks to us, I believe He knows us all well enough not to talk to us the exact same way.
In Romans 12:4-5, Paul says, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. refers to all people as making up the body of Christ.” I love that Jesus never expected us to have the same gifts.
So, while we all want to know exactly how to hear God, I would dare to say we already do. The verse in the Bible that says ‘sheep hear the Father’s voice’ was always daunting to me. I thought if I wasn’t hearing everyday, I must not be God’s sheep. But rather I know God says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)
Being a daughter of God is about accepting His gift and sacrifice and putting our belief in Him, so how could there also be a qualifier like hearing His voice in a certain way? It would be convenient if something like that could prove that we believe because we like proof. We like to know we are safe. But the crazy thing is that Jesus said that even some who prophesied in His name would be strangers to Him. (Matthew 7:22-23)
So, I suggest that instead of understanding hearing God’s voice as proof to our status as sheep, we let our status as sheep (that comes from belief) encourage us that we already hear God’s voice. Perhaps if we can do that, we can start embracing our God-given uniqueness…and become more confident in our own way of hearing God. This could be through something audible, or through the beauty of the breeze. God knows what you need and He knows how to encourage you in sonship and daughtership.
