"God, tell me what to do here."
"Jesus, guide me in this situation."
"Lord, help me to figure this out."
Have you personally experienced the desire for God to speak directly to you in your circumstances? Have you longed for an audible answer to questions, and felt disappointed when you are met with silence?
Or perhaps you have struggled with hearing of a friend's "still, small voice from God" speaking authoritatively over a situation in her life. You aren't alone. I know countless Christians who desperately seek God's clear voice over anything and everything.
Whether it's where to go to church, how to spend money wisely, who to marry, or if I can be sure I am going to heaven, we want personal and specific answers. When others around us are convinced they have heard God speak about a particular aspect of their life, we question why we aren't hearing the same.
I want to encourage you if you have never heard God's voice speaking directly to you. If you assert that God has spoken to you personally, I also want to challenge you. In the New Testament one of the last books, Hebrews, begins in this way:
"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs."
This rich passage teaches us amazing things about God, least of which is that God spoke. A long time ago, as verse one declares, our forefathers heard the Word of God through the prophets. "At many times and in many ways," our forefathers heard God speaking to them through the various means and times that he had determined.
We see this all over the Old Testament, prophets directly hearing God's voice or having His truth communicated through visions or dreams. These prophets then passed God's messages onto His people, with God simultaneously entrusting and equipping the prophets to accurately relay His Words.
The passage then moves on showing us that the time of God speaking to His people through prophets has passed. Instead, God has spoken to us in a different way in these "last days" before the second coming: through His Son.
Why then, do we assume that we are all prophets? We think that we have the ability to experience visions, dreams or direct communication from God that are authoritative and binding like the proclamation of prophets inherently must be.
We forget that Hebrews has told us clearly that in our generation, God has spoken through His Son, Jesus. And He does this because ultimately that is all we need. Why is it all that we need? The text tells us:
"...his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs"
God speaks to us through Jesus' life, death and resurrection. We are so blessed to no longer live in the time of prophets, as we now see the revelation of who the prophets were pointing to. God communicates everything we need to know: sacrificial love, justice, holiness, freedom, peace, compassion, and eternal life, all through his Son.
His Son is the heir of ALL things, through whom God created the world you and I live in. He is not just our example, Jesus is the exact imprint of God's nature and the radiance of God's glory. He made us pure through his work on the cross, and is now sitting at the right hand of God continually interceding on our behalf.
If you trust in Him as this text reveals, you have understood something much greater than which school to choose or how long you should date someone before you marry. You have understood the Creator of the Universe who has achieved everything you need to live eternally.
You don't have to listen to the "still, small voice" as if it were God directly speaking to you. It may well be your conscience guiding you thought the Holy Spirit, but it isn't God's authoritative word like the Bible is.
Instead of searching for God's voice in every situation, grasp that He has conquered every situation for you.
As soppy as it sounds, even when all you see is failure, He is truly working it to your good. The more you listen to Jesus' words and understand His actions as detailed in the Bible, the more you can hear directly, infallibly and authoritatively from God.
God is speaking to you always through His Son, and that is all you need.
Harriet Knox lives in windy Wellington, New Zealand. She works for the Government, loves animals, and cannot function well without a gym membership. She became a Christian at University and attends Gracenet Community Church.
Harriet Knox's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/harriet-knox.html
