Hearing God's Voice

So this is just a brief snippet I received from the Lord yesterday that is a very simple yet very powerful revelation. 

Now, I'm a full believer that God still speaks to us today and that hearing is voice is a mandatory requirement for a life following Him.  That being said -- I know many people struggle hearing His voice. They wonder, is this just me? Is this the devil speaking? Is it God? How can I tell the difference? Good questions. [Here is a brief reply to this: When God speaks, it will ALWAYS bring life -- If its from the devil, it will ALWAYS bring death and decay. Also, we have the mind of Christ -- so sometimes even if we believe we're "making it up," but it leads to life - the Lord is probably still honoring it!]

However, that's a subject for another day. What I'm going to talk about deals with when you CAN'T hear the voice of the Lord. 

Let's say, for example, you need to ask God a question. "God, what should I do about such and such a situation?" And you hear no response. Empty silence. Nothing. Now, I've been there before. However, I believe that the Lord ALWAYS speaks. He is NEVER silent. So how then do we account for hearing nothing from Him?

The Lord speaks in many ways. Job 33:14 - 16 - "Why do you complain against Him that He does not give an account of all His doings? Indeed, God speaks once, or twice, yet no one notices it. In a dream, a vision of the night, when sound sleep falls on men, while they slumber in their beds, then He opens the ears of men and seals their instruction..." God speaks directly to people, and in visions, dreams, through other people (preachers, friends, etc), through music and books, etc. Take your pick... the Lord is generally trying to fill His people in on what He's doing. 

However, I'm going to put the Lord's "communication" into two main categories or "Ways He Speaks."

1. He speaks plainly -- He speaks so that we can understand 

2. He speaks in parables -- He speaks so that we do not understand

Now, if the Lord is always speaking, yet we do not perceive Him, there is a problem. Lets look at each of the categories.

1. He speaks plainly.

When God speaks plainly and we still don't hear an answer/word from Him, its usually because something is in the way -- i.e. there is a barrier to communication. Now, there is nothing wrong with God, so I tend to believe that the barrier is on our end. 

Here was my situation: I was asking Him a question, and I didn't hear a response from Him. But then He asked me, "Do you really want an answer to that question?" My immediate response was, "Yes, of course I do! That's why I asked, duh." But when I thought about it, I felt my will rise up inside me. I finally realized that, while I was asking the question, deep down inside I didn't really want an answer to it. My own will was preventing me from hearing a response. 

This is what the Lord revealed to me: If we can't hear Him when He is speaking plainly to us, its because our will is in the way. There's something inside our mind, will, and emotions (a stronghold - a wrong pattern of thinking) that is preventing us from hearing what the Lord is saying about us or to us. 

Or, we are distracted. What I mean by "distracted" is that we have our minds/hearts focused on an assumption of what the Lord is saying. We think He's going to respond one way and we wait to hear an answer, and when it doesn't come we get confused and frustrated. But really, we were focusing on an assumption instead of what the Lord was trying to communicate. 

Both of these problems deal with our own mindsets. We have to have a renewed mind in order to understand what the Lord is saying. It takes letting Him deal with our defenses. It's not that God doesn't want to answer your questions... most of the time, its that we don't really want our questions answered.

2. He speaks in parables.

Sometimes God purposefully speaks in a different way so that we will not understand what He's saying. Now, that seems like a ridiculous notion. If God wants us to know what He's saying, why would He purposefully confuse us?

The answer? He's trying to force growth and life to happen inside of us. Proverbs 25:2 describes it like this: "Its the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to search it out." Jesus often spoke in parables so that the ones who really wanted and were hungry for the truth would search out the meaning in them.

In this case, the Lord is forcing a work of character to happen. He's stretching our ears so that we can hear Him in a new way. He's seeing if we will actually PURSUE His voice. He's begging the question, "Are you pursuing my voice in a new, fresh way? Or are you waiting around for me to speak in an old way?" He's testing, saying "will you pursue me? or will you pursue what's familiar?" 

God is constantly changing up the way He speaks. It seems once we get used to one way, suddenly He's speaking another. But He's keeping us from being stagnant water. He's forcing us into a new realm by hearing His voice. He's teaching us, saying "You can hear me in a season of plenty, but can you hear me in a season of fasting? Will you be able to follow Me if I have you in this place, instead of the other?" He's pushing us into intimacy because His sheep know His voice.

So, that's what the Lord showed me last night while I was talking to Him. I will continue to come back to this subject because over the course of the last year the Lord has been walking me through how to hear Him unconditionally. I can say with confidence that I hear the voice of the Lord very well -- but at the same time He's pushing me to hear Him in a deeper and fresh way. So it's been and will continue to be a process for me. I'm just excited that I can take anyone else on the journey with me.