top of page
Writer's pictureCathy Garland

Gracefull Listeners

Updated: Oct 19, 2019

Evidently, for some, the question is not "How do I hear from God or know that I'm hearing from God" but rather it's "Is God even still speaking to us today?"


Before we proceed, I should define what is meant by "speaking". I use this term to include every possible way that God spoke in the Bible from burning bushes to visions and dreams, audible voice of God to angelic visitations, scriptures being brought to the front of our mind to a singular voice in the mind that is specific and clear.


The above question was posed by someone who clearly didn't believe God was still speaking today—beyond what is printed in the Bible—and had quite a platform to prove why the Bible was more than enough and anything else was "asking for a sign". Their antagonism to this concept is strange.


Let me clear: The Bible still speaks, is 100% relevant, and it's authority is unquestionable. Anything I hear God say MUST be tested against what He has already said, as it is recorded in the Bible. There is a great need in the Body of Christ for believers to actually READ the Bible and let it speak to them, to hide it in their heart to give them a vocabulary of worship and hearing from God. I do not discount the value of hearing God through the Bible even a tiny bit. Every jot and tittle of it is useful.


Having said that, the Bible is silent on a few things. It doesn't necessarily comment on every event in life or history nor does it provide a clear set of directions for every step in every circumstance in every person's life. It does, however, tell us how God spoke very clearly in specific people's circumstances...over and over and over again. Each main character in the Bible seems to include a conversation with God—and even some not-so-main characters like Cain or Hagar.


Here's my three questions for the questioner above:

  1. Did God speak in the past?

  2. Does Christ plan to speak to us when He returns and sets up His kingdom on earth?

  3. What is so different about THIS age that would make Him change? (More on this later.)

Yes, He spoke in the past. We are told in Revelation that Christ speaks in the future (declaring, for example) and we can presume He's not going to walk around silent and gesticulating toward the Bible when people ask a question.


If we recall His main focus—the Tripartite Promise—and the premise of the whole of the Bible we have our clue: "I will be their God, they will be my people, and I will dwell in their midst." We can also recall how He has moved heaven and earth and sacrificed His own Son to establish this promise, I think we can safely presume He wants a relationship and a relationship requires a TWO-WAY conversation.


(It's all about RELATIONSHIP people. It's always and in all ways about relationship.) Does He plan to have only one-sided conversations in the future? No. Obviously, no.


So what is supposedly different about NOW? So different, in fact, that would cause a changeless God to change??? Or revise His tactics? If He spoke in the past, plans to speak again in the future, then what is sooooooo different today?


Caution: Whenever someone is redefining who God is, differently than He reveals Himself, they come dangerously close to idolatry: worshipping a god who is not what He revealed. And, in His Word, He reveals Himself as the God Who Speaks. So, since there is no shadow of change in Him...He still speaks. In all the ways He once spoke. It's all His prerogative.


Grace simply listens, whichever way He chooses to speak.


53 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page