on "hearing" God

Listening to God is a sensitive subject. Last night, at Whosoever Dallas, they were doing a study of Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. If you have been in the Evangelical Christian church for any length of time, you have either done this study or you have heard of it – it is a foundational, elemental study that has been widely recommended and used throughout the Christian church.


I need to preface my comments – my dissidence – by saying it is NOT a bad study, and I am not discounting the wisdom in Mr. Blackaby’s theology.

Listening to the voice of God, I have learned through trial and error (mostly error) is something that is learned. It is not a voice that comes out of nowhere and it is not a thundering sound in your ears, ((most of the time)). The voice of God is different for everyone in their experience. The voice of God can be missed, especially if you’re listening for something else.
When it comes to hearing God’s voice, a foundational aspect must be that you understand the character of God.

In a daycare full of rowdy kids yelling “MOMMY!!” I hear my Jesse’s voice and turn to spot his tousled white-blond hair and big blue eyes. His voice is distinctive, his voice is different than the others, but only to my ears. If you walked in to the same daycare, you might not notice the subtle differences between his voice and the voice of the others in the room. It is only because I hear his voice out of love and an intimate relationship with him. I hear his voice because I am in tune with him, I am nurturing him, I am instinctually programmed to hear the voice of my child and respond.

This is not something I practiced. I didn’t take Jesse out to McDonalds and set him free with the monkeys at the PlayPlace and try to figure out his voice among the others, try to “practice” hearing him among other children. I learned his voice because I spent time with him, and because when he speaks my heart moves, my senses tune. I learned his voice not through practice, but through LOVE.

That being said, I take issue with Blackaby’s approach and writing style on several levels. I took issue with some of the quotes from the lesson last night (in particular):
1. “If you are not hearing the voice of God, there is trouble at the heart of your Christian Life.”
Really?
How about if you are not hearing the voice of God, you haven’t known him long enough to differentiate him from the other voices going on all around you? This seems a harsh judgment to render upon all of the people whose hearts are to please God and do his will, and yet can’t quite tell what the voice is saying.

I think “trouble” is the wrong word for this. If you are not hearing the voice of God, maybe you’re not listening in the right place. If I’m not hearing my son call me, maybe I’m not in the place where my son IS. If I am in that place and I still can’t hear him, then maybe my distractions are too loud – the other voices are drowning him out.

So when I want to hear what he’s telling me, I go to where he is, I kneel down, I cup his face in my hands and he says in my ear what he wants to tell me. Or we go to a quiet place where there is no noise, no distractions, no whaling drone of children’s voices to down out his little voice.

“I love you mommy!” he says, and I smile, my heart warms, my son and I are connected.

 The point is not whether he speaks to me with words, or whether I hold him as he sleeps, gently brushing his hair off his forehead. The point is, that I am in a place where I can hear him. I have turned down the distractions. I have gotten to a place where we can be alone. I have focused on him, on his mouth, on his eyes as he speaks to me.

Sometimes, if we aren’t hearing the voice of God – the voice described in the Bible as a “still, small voice” – it’s because our distractions are so loud. And sometimes we aren’t hearing the voice of God just because we don’t know his voice yet. AND THAT’S OK. You’re not “in trouble in your Christian experience” because you can’t always decipher the voice of God amidst a loud and tumultuous world.

If you’re not hearing God, and you are desiring to hear him, I recommend getting alone with yourself. Turning on some quiet music. Listening to YOURSELF, because, after all, you are God’s image – you are an outline of him and by default, you are at your core, part of him and his thoughts and his purpose and his dreams. Listening to your own voice without silencing it is sometimes the key to listening to God’s voice.

Here’s another thing: There is a standing list of things God says to us. It is clear in the Bible that God thinks we are worth loving. God loves me. God has a hope and a future for me. The Lord will protect me. The Lord knows where I am, whether I’m asleep or awake, whether I’m in the highest heights or the lowest depths, whether I’m angry or sad. The Bible spells it out for us that God has a message for us, and the fact is, if I can’t hear God, I remind myself of what he already said to me: “I love you and I will never forsake you.” “I KNOW the plans I have for you and they are good things, things that give you a hope and a future!”

So Blackaby’s claim that “God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes and His ways. When God speaks to you, you will be able to know He is the One speaking, and you will know clearly what He is saying to you,” while true for a believer in the right place at the right time on the perfect path (ie, while true for JESUS 100% of the time), does not work across the board for all people! I challenge any pastor or leader or spiritual master to tell me that they have never had a moment when they got it wrong, when they questioned what He was saying to them, or when they just MISSED THE BOAT. It is part of the Christian experience to miss the boat. And when God speaks to you, sometimes it takes a while to “know clearly what He is saying to you.”

And sometimes, you NEVER know clearly.
Is God speaking to me when I lose my child to cancer? Probably. Do I hear clearly what he is saying? Doubtful.

Is God speaking to me when I am faced with the most enormous obstacle of my life, with odds that seem insurmountable and voices yelling from every direction? Probably. Do I know clearly what he is saying? NO! NOT ALWAYS!!

AND THAT’S OK.

2. The SECOND issue I have with Blackaby last night, was his claim that when God speaks, he is ready to move and (paraphrased) if God doesn’t want us to take action, he won’t bother speaking to us.

THIS is not the God I know. The God I know doesn’t speak to me only when he has instructions. That’s my boss you’re thinking about, Mr. Blackaby, I know they are easy to confuse, especially in my boss's mind. My BOSS shows up in my office only when he wants something or needs something, when he wants me to “take action” and “get the job done.”

My God doesn’t wait until he has instructions for me to have a relationship with me. My God created me for relationship, and therefore forgetting that I need to hear things ((like “I love you” and “You ROCK” and “You’re funny” and “I’m here”)) is not in his character.

 My God is the kind of guy you take home to meet your parents because you know that he’s a good conversationalist who isn’t going to be barking orders to your mom. That’s the God I’m in a relationship with – the God that doesn’t need a “reason” to connect to me. The God who thinks I’m the coolest thing since sliced bread. The God who kisses me on the forehead before I go to sleep, and who comforts me when sleep won’t come. THAT’S my God. Not a mystical, elusive, unreachable “holy spirit-jesus-god-combo” who is so busy with running the Universe that he doesn’t have time to tell me that I’m beautiful and worthy and he’s REALLY glad he made me.

So, overall, Mr. Blackaby, among other things, I find that your approach to experiencing God, while it might have worked perfectly for you, comes across as a little judgmental, a little harsh, a little critical to those of us who ARENT called to be the "Father of Many Nations." It’s one thing to tell us what worked for you, and how you were able to connect to God. It’s a completely different thing altogether to tell us that yours is the only way. I would love to spend more time debating you, Mr. Blackaby, about your hard line approach to the voice of My God, but he just surprised me at work and showed up to take me to lunch.

He’s sweet like that.