True or False: When you’ve heard from God, it wasn’t actually God – 1st Samuel 2:12-4:1, Preview

A couple years ago I taught a theology course for Lancaster Bible College, and one of the books students were required to read is Good News for Anxious Christians: 10 Practical Things You Don’t Have to Do by Philip Cary.  As I read the book in preparation for the class, at times I was nodding in agreement, and at other times I was shaking my head in disbelief.  

Two chapters that I sometimes struggled with were the first one, “Why You Don’t Have to Hear God’s Voice in Your Heart (Or, How God Really Speaks Today)” and the second, “Why You Don’t Have to Believe Your Intuitions Are the Holy Spirit (Or, How the Spirit Shapes Our Hearts)”.  

Cary’s point is that when we strive to hear God, anything we hear, whether voices in our minds, impressions in our hearts, or a feeling of peace, is not God.  Cary suggests, instead, that though we might think that communication is from God, it is our minds and emotions.  Cary believes that many Christians have made far too much of “hearing God.”  He advises Christians to focus on studying God’s word as the way to hear from God.  

I agree that we should study God’s word to hear from God. But doesn’t God’s word include examples and teaching about hearing from God in other ways?  This coming week on the blog, we will study 1 Samuel 2:12-4:1, the second week of posts in our series on the Life of David.  This is a passage that describes multiple ways God speaks, some of which are extrabiblical, meaning that this passage describes God speaking, but not through the written word.  Read 1 Samuel 2:12-4:1 for yourself ahead of time, and count the many ways God speaks.

Also, ask yourself, “How do I hear God speak in my life?”  Do you hear God speak?  If not, why not?  I look forward to working through this powerful episode in Samuel’s life, as it will relate to our lives in a meaningful way.  See you back here on Monday.

Photo by Sharon Waldron on Unsplash