If you want to follow God’s will in your life, you need to know how to hear God’s voice. But many people don’t understand how God speaks today or how to know for sure what God says. In this lesson, we’re talking about what it means to hear God’s voice.
The Bible is filled with God’s voice from cover to cover. The creation began with the voice of God; Genesis 1 mentions God speaking at least sixteen times. And the story of the Bible ends with God’s voice again—over half the verses in Revelation 22 describe God speaking.
Between those first and last chapters of the Bible, we read time and again about God speaking to His people. God spoke with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. He spoke with Noah about the ark. God spoke with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He spoke with Moses and Joshua. He spoke to Samuel, and then to David and Solomon. God spoke to His prophets, like Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel. In the New Testament, God spoke at Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration. He spoke to apostles like Peter, Paul, and John. And God spoke to evangelists like Philip in Acts 8 and Ananias in Acts 9.
So if the Bible constantly shows God speaking to His people, we might expect God to speak with us in the same way. And many people historically and presently have described experiences where they believed God spoke with them. But should we expect God to communicate with us in the same way He did with the patriarchs, the prophets, and the apostles? Let’s study together.
First, we will make some observations from Scripture about God’s voice. Then, we will discuss how we can identify what God says today.
Observation #1:
God did not speak to everyone in the Bible.
Skimming the Bible may give us the impression that God was always speaking directly to everyone. But God’s voice was actually a rare occurrence in biblical history. Remember that the Bible only focuses on a relatively small number of people, and it only records snapshots of their lives—the high points and low points—the interesting moments.
For example, Abraham was seventy-five years old when God first called him, and the Bible records only a handful of conversations between God and Abraham which took place over more than twenty-five years. Moses was already eighty years old when God first spoke to him at the burning bush. And throughout the Bible, God communicated primarily with the prophets, not with all people individually all the time. God’s word came through the prophets, who then delivered the message to the people.
Observation #2:
God communicated through different means across history.
Hebrews 1:1–2 makes this point clearly:
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.
Sometimes God communicated through dreams, as with Jacob and Joseph. Other times, God communicated through visions, as with Ezekiel and Daniel. Still other times, God appeared in a visible form to speak, as with Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah. And again, God most often spoke through His prophets.
So, we should not expect God’s communication to look the same in every age. In fact, God teaches us in Hebrews 1:1–2 that the coming of Christ in the incarnation, the revelation of Jesus His Son, marked a difference from the “various ways” He communicated in time past: God “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.” God did not speak in the same way to everyone, and He does not speak in all the same ways today as He used to speak.
Observation #3:
God designed His written word to be sufficient.
When we open the Bible, we are reading the written form of the voice of God. And God’s word is complete and powerful enough to provide what we need to live with God and serve Him faithfully.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16–17
The Bible contains all the information we need to be everything God wants us to be.
Paul, as an apostle, received direct revelation from God regarding God’s will and truth. But do we need the same kind of direct revelation to know God’s will and truth today? Paul tells us we don’t! Notice what he says in Ephesians 3:1–5:
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets.
God revealed this important knowledge directly to Paul and the other apostles and prophets. But God didn’t directly reveal these things to the Ephesians or the rest of the church. Instead, they would learn God’s will and truth by reading and understanding the written word. And this written word of God would not be inferior at all to the direct revelation Paul and others received; Paul told the Ephesians that when they read the word, they could understand exactly what he knew from God.
Even in the first century, God did not speak directly to every Christian—only by the Spirit to the apostles and prophets—but their writings, the Scriptures, provided everything the church needed to know and do.
So, how can we hear God’s voice today? Here are three principles to help us identify what God says to us.
God’s voice is revealed in His word.
When we read the word of God, we can know for certain that we are hearing God’s voice. Maybe you have experienced something in your life today where you thought or came to believe God spoke to you directly. The best thing you can do with that experience is go to the Bible to see what God reveals in Scripture. We don’t need to guess whether God is speaking to us when God has already spoken to us definitively through His Son.
I love what the author of Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 12:5. “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons…” and then he quoted from Proverbs 3:11–12. Solomon did not write that proverb in the first century or for the church, but in Hebrews 12:5, God told the first century church that the exhortation of His word was speaking to them!
Similarly, when Jesus responded to the Sadducees, He said, “Regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God…” And then Jesus quoted Exodus 3:6. That passage was originally spoken to Moses, and none of the first century Sadducees would have been present to hear the voice of God. Yet, Jesus explained that when people read the Scriptures, God speaks to them too.
The written word is how God speaks to us today—if we will read and remember it.
God’s voice reflects His character.
“God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). When Jesus described the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in Matthew 12:22–32, He brought it up in the context of the Pharisees who attributed the healing work of God to the demonic work of Satan. But we must be very careful, because we can also make the mistake of attributing to the work of God things God did not do, or attributing to the voice of God things God did not say. Rather than assuming that something came directly from God, perhaps it would be better to ask, “Does this thought or feeling align with the character of God and with His word?” If so, we know that God can use that thought or feeling in us for good.
God’s voice often conflicts with our desires.
Personally (and I hope graciously), I find it suspect when someone claims God speaks with them directly, but the things God “says” always match up with what they already believe or want. It is a blessing that God’s word challenges us to be transformed and to change our hearts. God warns us, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
When we read about God speaking in the Bible, He regularly confronted what people wanted by telling them what they needed. God called Abraham to leave his home and country, and He told Moses to go back to Egypt even when Moses tried excuse after excuse not to go. God sent the prophet Nathan to expose David’s adultery and murder. God even told Ezekiel, “The house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me” (Ezekiel 3:7). And Jesus regularly taught things that people did not want to hear.
When God speaks, He speaks with eternal wisdom. “For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6). God knows better than we do, so hearing His word should often require us to change our minds. We must submit to what God says.
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.
Hebrews 3:7–8
How do we respond when we hear the word of God? Because of the wisdom and goodness of God, we should respond with submission.
So if you want to identify God’s voice, ask yourself these three questions:
- Is it found in God’s word?
- Does it reflect God’s character?
- Is it what I want being imposed on God, or am I submitting to God’s wisdom as revealed in Scripture?
And when you hear the word of God, I hope you will believe it and obey!