spiritual fluff

What does it mean to hear from God?

What does it look like for God to speak into your heart? Give you instruction? Provide direction?

These concepts have been weighing ever so heavily on my heart and I didn’t even understand the extent of it until recently. If I were to explain the whole process and why these questions have come to the forefront, this would be a much longer and involved post than it already is. I’ll spare you that. Maybe I’ll tell you about it the next time we meet.

The quick of it is I started asking the questions because I had been hearing different people in different situations say things like, “I heard the Lord say bla bla bla..." Or, “God told me yada yada yada…”

I wondered, “What do these people mean?” I know from being a Christian myself, and frequenting Christian circles, what these people do not mean. They do not mean they heard an audible, thunderous voice from above. So I asked, “What do they mean then? Are they talking about some verse in the Bible that seems to speak to something they are going through or a question they have? Is it a perception in one’s mind? A type of knowing in one’s heart? What is it?

If the former were true, it could be the case that the Word was being handled properly and applied well to a true life situation. Or, it could instead be the case, which has been my experience on more than one occassion, that the person could be pulling a verse in the Bible out of context and applying it to some obscure situation or question. The verse is rendered meaningless, as the original and intended teaching was stripped away. What you are left with is a new and wrong meaning used for self-edification rather than true, accurate teaching for God-glorification.

If the latter were true, it seems to me that what is really going on is that one’s mind is being informed by their own heart and conscience which may be informed and influenced by the Spirit - or maybe not. We have to remember we are still human and fallen from perfection even more than our own hearts can understand or know. So how can we trust ourselves fully and believe that what perception or knowing we experience is truly a right interpretation from the perfect God of the universe?

Let me be clear - I believe that God speaks today. I believe His Word, the Bible, is living and active, speaking into people's lives even now. I believe God uses people and situations in our lives everyday to carry out His purpose and teaching. I'm just not entirely convinced He is always speaking in the ways we think or that He is always saying the things we think He is.

The bottom line is this - we need to take care not to interpret our subjective human experience unfiltered through the objective truth of scripture. All must be tested against and filtered through the Word, and the Word, which is the final authority, must be handled accurately. When you boil it all down, afterall, it can be a matter of life and death.

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” -Psalm 19:14