Hearing Voices

Last night I had a chat with Theresa. For a long time now, I have been stirred by the notion of God speaking directly to us, via events, circumstances or people. I have never experienced this, and have always “heard” God only through the Bible. In fact, I even doubted and continue to doubt, those who claim that God speaks directly to them. Sure, I acknowledge that there would be dreams and visions from God but, I thought, only where such dreams and visions relate to a specific task God wants His church to undertake and such tasks should relate to the fulfilment of the Great Commission. I had read something to this effect somewhere before, perhaps I should re-visit the basis for this belief.

The difficulty I have with individuals hearing messages from God on matters other than the Great Commission lies with their credibility. How does one verify that it is in fact God speaking and not that person’s will or psychological make-up causing him or her to “hear” such things? If it is events and circumstances, what differentiates such experiences from those who are not Christians? A Buddhist, a Hindu or a Muslim can claim to hear things from God on such things as well, either directly or through events or circumstances or other people.

Last Sunday a guest speaker in our church was relaying messages he “received” from God, to various people. I was amazed, confused and disappointed. Amazed because the messages were very specific. Confused because how does one verify or confirm these messages? They may cause the recipient to go down a path which may not be the best for that person, or they may cause that person to be disillusioned if it turned out that those messages were somehow not accurate or required revisions. Disappointed because I have, unknowingly, been sucked into this culture of expecting messages from God and becoming frustrated at not receiving them after all these years.

That speaker prefaced his session with a reference to Balaam/Balak and the donkey God used to relay the message. Theresa reminded me of that last night when we talked. The point was, if God could speak through a donkey, why can’t He speak through his servants or children? I don’t know. The Bible does say (in Hebrews) that in these the last days, God has spoken through His Son. Jesus is the Word. God’s Word. I believe everything God wanted to say to us, can be found in the Bible, and no where else, with the exception set out above. I don’t know if we seek to “hear” from Him through other sources as a result our human nature. We want to satisfy our doubts, our yearning for visual or audio confirmation of what we are told to accept by reading His Word. Could it be that we need a light and sound show in conforming to the signs of our times, otherwise His Word has no currency? Or am I just being a frustrated whingeing kid? I want a relationship with God which is more solid than that. Yet, I want, sometimes, to hear Him assure me every now and then.