A LIFE OR DEATH ISSUE
For God, the issue of listening to his spoken voice is a matter of choosing life or death that is portrayed in the story of Adam and Eve who chose to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil instead of the Tree of Life. Religious people do not see it that way, but this is only one example of God’s way not being man’s way.**
There is a certain amount of unlearning that must happen before God will open their spiritual eyes and ears to hear his spoken voice. What religionists know they have learned while they were disciples of false prophets. Things they have learned have been intoxicated with strongholds of wrong thinking that are difficult, but not impossible to destroy.
Here are a few rules of thumb to consider when trying to discern if we have heard God’s voice or not:
When God says “hear the word of the Lord“, he is talking about hearing his spiritual voice — not listening to any human who claims to speak for God in verbal or written language.
God voice gives understanding to the mysteries of the literal Bible. It explains, and connects seemingly unrelated parts of the Bible that we do not understand because we cannot relate them to each other using our natural, intellectual minds.
It explains the symbolic meaning of the literal words of the Bible.
God’s voice spiritually connects the pieces of the incomprehensible Bible puzzle that we do not understand into comprehensible images that we do understand, and integrates them into the big picture of who God is and how he relates to his people.
When God opens the eyes of New Covenant disciples to see how pieces of the Bible puzzle are connected, and explains their spiritual meaning, disciples experience an “aha” moment that causes them to tremble with awe in appreciation that God has revealed a spiritual mystery to them with his spiritual voice.
God’s voice may not come all at once in a complete, fully formed, comprehensive revelation. It will more likely come in bits and pieces of smaller, incomplete revelations that make no intellectual sense until they are linked together as in the assembly of a puzzle. The linking occurs, however, only for people who diligently search for related links that will complete that portion of the puzzle.
We will actually hear God’s voice before we recognize it as his voice. It will first be like a goad/prick to our heart that creates doubt about our religious beliefs and practices.
God’s voice will be heard and understood by people who are humble enough to admit that the doctrines they believe and the religion they practice are not, or may not, be in perfect agreement with spiritual truth that comes from God’s voice.
God’s voice will be heard and understood by people who are like little children who are not wise in their own eyes because they are proud of their intellectual understanding of the literal meanings of the Bible.
