How do we listen to God? There are many ways.
We listen through studying God’s word, the Scriptures. God’s word is living and active, and he speaks through the Bible. The Bible is inspired by God, which means that God’s Spirit was at work in the lives of the authors, so that when we read and study it, we believe that God can and does uniquely speak through it.
I’ll give you an example from my life this past week. I was teaching the Ascension of Jesus in my Bible college class covering the Life of Christ. Here in Lancaster County, we see the Amish celebrate Ascension Day, and we scratch our heads a bit. Why do they make a big deal of the event where Jesus finally says goodbye to his disciples, and disappears through the clouds? I personally have long felt that the Ascension is an odd occurrence, kind of a sad one, as goodbyes always are, and I’d rather get on to the exciting events of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit arrives. Most evangelical churches do not give much emphasis on Ascension.
When I created the syllabus for my Life of Christ class I devoted a whole class period to the Ascension. Now I actually had to teach the Ascension. I thought to myself, “I made a mistake. I should have spent a lot more time on Jesus’ ministry. I would have been totally fine just mentioning the Ascension briefly.”
But something happened as I opened the Scriptures and began studying. I studied the Ascension like I never did before. I realized that the living and active, God-breathed, inspired Scriptures actually have quite a lot to say about the Ascension, and it is very impactful. God spoke to me through his Word, in a new way this past week.
God also speaks, the Scriptures tell us, in other ways. As we learned this week in our study through 1 Samuel 2:12-4:1a, starting here, Samuel heard the voice of God speaking to him. In fact, we read the astounding line that God came and stood there next to Samuel! God doesn’t have a body, so we should interpret that verse as referring to God’s presence with Samuel. Because God doesn’t have a body, he doesn’t have vocal chords. But that doesn’t hold God back from speaking. Sometimes God does speak so we can hear him. Not just to Samuel but plenty of times in Scripture. And God still speaks today. My sense is that God speaking in an audible voice is rare. But perhaps part of why it is so rare is that we either don’t believe it, or we’re too busy, and thus we aren’t listening.
There are more ways God speaks. In the passage, God spoke through people. First through the unnamed prophet, who had a message from God to Eli. Then God spoke through Samuel who was becoming a prophet, to Eli, and eventually to the whole nation of Israel.
In the New Testament, there are Christian prophets. In Ephesians 4:11-12, we read that God gave some to be Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds and Teachers, all of whom serve in a variety of ways to build up the church. God speaks through them.
Prophets, in particular, are people who serve as mouthpieces for God by pointing out sinfulness. This is exactly how the unnamed prophet and Samuel are speaking in response to Hophni and Phineas’ sin, as we read in the story this past week. Still today, we need prophets in the church to point out when we are going astray. We need people in our lives who speak prophetically to us. I am not referring to predicting the future. I am talking about if-then prophecy. If you keep on sinning, then you will face consequences, but if you repent, turn back to God’s ways, you will be in line with God’s heart, which is the best way to live.
There are still other ways God speaks. Through nature. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” Through his Spirit. Through group discussions. Through our experiences, especially the difficult ones.
God still speaks, if we are teachable and put ourselves in a place of listening. This is why contemplative prayer has become so meaningful to me. It emphasizes listening. Slowing down, turning off the noise, and maybe turning on white noise to block out distracting noise, and listening. Asking God to speak. I have so appreciated the Lectio 365 devotional app and how it guides the listener.
But all of these practices can become empty rituals, if they are not based on an inner foundation of humility, teachability, seeking God’s character, deepening your desire, and actions to line up with the Fruit of the Spirit. Make space, both physically and emotionally to know God and be loved by God.
Photo by Guillaume de Germain on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 