When you need God to speak

A few weeks ago we sang “Word of God Speak” in our chapel service. That is one of my favorite songs because it seems to usher us to the throne of God where we can sense the comfort of his presence. 

For many reasons, the phrase “Word of God speak” has been my personal prayer since that time. 

I have experienced the truth of God’s voice for a lot of years now and I wanted to write this blog post to teach, remind, or encourage all of you that his voice is a gift we should cultivate for our souls.

Sometimes when I am praying for a person who needs healing or a sense of peace or direction I pray, “Word of God speak.” I want to pray in his will so I ask for him to author my prayer with his words. Often, I want to pray for direction for my own life and choices so I pray, “Word of God speak . . . I want to hear your voice and follow your lead.”

There are times we need to hear God’s voice of comfort and love. During those times I often pick up the Bible and pray, “Word of God speak to me from pages. Speak to me from your truth.”

God speaks. 

When you need his voice, you will learn how to pray and how to listen. 

Frederick Faber’s teaching is wisdom

Frederick Faber was an English theologian and hymn writer in the mid-1800s. Faber struggled most of his life with poor health and eventually died of Bright’s disease at the age of forty-nine. His spiritual journey was marked by a brilliant theological education that he then applied to the needs in his life. His faith was strengthened even as his body grew physically weak. So many times, God redeems the hard times by using them to sanctify our souls. 

Frederick Faber has a quote that has been a goal and a strength to my own soul, especially when I need God’s direction or comfort in my own life. I wanted to share it with you all today. When you need God to speak, consider Faber’s teaching as truth for your life. He said:

There is hardly ever a complete silence in our soul. God is whispering to us well nigh incessantly. Whenever the sounds of the world die out in the soul, or sink low, then we hear these whisperings of God. He is always whispering to us, only we do not always hear because of the noise, hurry, and distraction which life causes as it rushes on.

What does the prophet Isaiah teach about God’s voice?

Isaiah 30 is a great education in our need to listen for, and to, the voice of God. It teaches us why those words by Frederick Faber are spiritual truth. 

We never have to wonder if God is speaking. God gave us his Holy Spirit so we could live with his voice. So why then do we struggle with knowing God’s will and obeying his voice? 

Isaiah 30 provides some answers.

The chapter begins with the words “‘Ah, stubborn children,’ declares the Lᴏʀᴅ, ‘who carry out a plan, but not mine, who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin’” (Isaiah 30:1).

Have you ever wondered how many mistakes you would have escaped if you had just asked God first?

Have you ever prayed for God’s direction only to immediately begin charting your own path? 

Sometimes we even say, “Lord, I’m moving ahead so stop me if I’m making a mistake.” 

The Israelites didn’t care what the prophets told them to do and didn’t want to wait for God to work in his timing. They made their own plans and did what they thought was right, not what God had shown them was best. That’s why God said in Isaiah 30:15, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Then the prophet told the people, “You were unwilling.”

God speaks all the time and God speaks when it is time. To move forward with our own ideas after praying for guidance is like turning on the faucet to fill the tub and then allowing the water to continually run while you take a shower instead. 

Let’s just say not to wait for God’s answer is to cause yourself a big mess and maybe significant damage.

The grace of God’s answers

As I’ve said, I’m not a fan of waiting, but I have learned that I am a fan of waiting on God. 

It is amazing to pray and then see God’s direction unfold through my circumstances. It is profoundly humbling to hear God speak his direction into my thoughts. When I choose to act on his words, I often realize that the Almighty God spoke into my life to call me to his purpose. 

God really does speak “well nigh incessantly” just like Frederick Faber said. His answers come with his grace and his understanding. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Isaiah 30:21. I discovered it almost three decades ago through my personal study of God’s word. I needed to know when and how to hear the voice of God in my life. I rarely take the time to offer that verse in the full context. But consider the passage so you can know that “your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying . . . .”

Isaiah promised the nation of Israel and God’s people today:

For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 

Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!” (Isaiah 30:19–22).

That is a long passage, but this is the “Janet Denison” rewording of those verses because of the way they have come to be God’s truth for me whenever I need to “hear” the Word of God speak. I would write this passage to you this way:

One day, every Christian will dwell in heaven and never shed another tear. Until then, know you have a gracious God who hears every word you cry out to him. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 

God will allow you to endure adversity and affliction on earth, but the Holy Spirit of God, the Presence of Jesus, is there to guide you through each moment. You can see him if you will search for him. You can hear him if you will listen. You will hear God speak to you in your quiet moments of worship or as random thoughts that aren’t random at all. 

God will most often speak straight from the pages of Scripture. God will tell you, “This is the way, walk in it.” 

And, when you realize the God of the Universe has spoken, you will throw away or submit the lesser things that might influence your choices and trust what you know is the true answer from God from the leadership of his Spirit.

Word of God speak

If you need to discern the voice of God, stop, study, and listen until you do. 

Pray without ceasing and give God the quiet attention his answers deserve. 

How do you start? 

I’d advise you to begin with one of my favorite worship songs, “Word of God Speak,” then move to a careful study of Isaiah 30. Listen and read prayerfully and hear God’s voice guide you to the verses that constricted your soul and spoke to you. Live with that truth and then adjust your life to obey.

That is how God speaks and how he directs our path. 

Trust him to know what is best and God will say, “Here is the way. Walk in it.”

In the desert but not deserted: Part 2

God always has a plan for the desert times in our lives. Most times we land there, God is simply providing us some down time, so that we can listen. Everyone experiences desert times, caused by any number of things.  Last week I wrote about the desert seasons of our lives that are natural to our journey and the dry times God intends to use for our discipline and growth. 

Today, I want to write about most of the desert times in our lives.  A desert time is simply a quiet, often spiritually dry time in our lives. 

Often we expect our earthly lives to be less challenging than they are. We have become a culture that expects our lives to be easier than God has promised. This is true of the Christian culture as well. We live in a period of time when many Christian leaders have said if we do A, then God will do B.  

Beware of sermons that promise an easy life to those who walk closely with God.  Biblical truth, like Romans 8:28, is that when we walk closely with God, he is with us in every circumstance and able to redeem those moments for our great good. 

Paul had an un-removed thorn in the flesh. Peter was crucified upside down. John was exiled on the island of Patmos. All of us know strong Christians who have received a difficult diagnosis.  Sometimes God’s saints struggle with a difficult child or an unhappy marriage. Sometimes we enter a desert because of our own choices, but most of the time our deserts exist as a normal part of our journey to heaven.

There are at least three types of deserts, and it is helpful to know why we are crossing through a dry time:

• Is this just a normal part of our earthly journey? 

• Are we there because God wants to discipline and help us make changes?  

• Or, has God provided the desert time for direction or deliverance?

THE DESERTS OF DIRECTION

Most of us live fast-paced, full lives.  As we age, we tend to replace speed with routine. There are a lot of ways to move through our lives that cause us to program out the voice and leadership of God. We know to pray and seek God when things aren’t going well, but it’s often the regular, routine parts of our lives that cause us to live according to our own thoughts and ideas rather than God’s. 

It’s no surprise that God would lead us to a desert so he can break our routine and cause us to seek his leadership. The best way to avoid a few of those deserts is to live our lives knowing we have a constant, daily need for his voice. We only think we know our schedules this week. When we made Jesus our Lord, we gave him permission to interrupt our routines any time, for his good purpose.

If our lives are simply a product of our routine choices, we should probably pack our bags for a stay in the desert.  If God can’t direct our paths, he will probably direct us to the desert. We often quote Proverbs 3:5-6 but have we allowed God’s word to mean what it says?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path” (Proverbs 3:5-6).  This verse is written in a Rabbinic teaching method.  The second part of the sentence is a restatement of the first. Here is why that matters:

Trusting in the Lord with all our hearts means that we do not lean on our own understanding. 

Picture yourself on a bridge, with rushing water underneath. Some parts of the railing are fragile while others are secure. Don’t we want the maker of the bridge to tell us which parts of the railing are safe to lean on?  

In all our ways, if we acknowledge that God is perfect and we aren’t, then we will allow him to direct our path.  The key to that verse is the word “all.”  Sometimes the routines of life cause us to keep doing things like we have always done them. We direct our own paths along what is familiar instead of allowing God to lead.

GOD’S PLAN TO DIRECT YOUR PATH  

If God can’t direct your plans each day, he will likely lead you to a desert place until you understand your need for his leadership. A day-to-day routine or a life that is too programmed and rushed doesn’t allow God to call you to his work – the work that matters eternally.  

If our lives are full of things that matter, but not the things that matter most, God will want to provide us with new directions.

Is God re-directing your career path?  Is God re-directing your daily routine?  Is God re-directing your friendships?  Is God re-directing your priorities?  Sometimes the Lord just needs you in another place for a certain amount of time because he has a job for you to do.  Sometimes the Lord turns our lives in a completely different direction.  

He often uses the desert times in our lives to “direct our paths.”  What should we do during that time?  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don’t lean on your understanding.”  

If a committee had put together a plan to move the Israelites into the chosen land it is almost certain the members of the committee would not have chosen to cross when the waters were flooded. They would have leaned on their own understanding. Interestingly, the reason the people of Jericho were terrified of the Israelites when they arrived is because they had already heard about the power of their God. 

God’s ways are perfect, but if you look at the bulk of Scripture, God’s plans are often outside the scope of men’s natural, reasoned choices. If our lives are limited to our choices, we are limiting what God wants to do through our lives. His direction matters eternally for us and for our witness to others.

THE DESERTS OF DELIVERANCE

Finally I want to talk about the desert times we need, that God provides. There are more of these times in our lives than I think we realize. Have you become “weary in well doing?” Have you been through a time of great grief, loneliness, sickness or of great service to God?  

Sometimes we come to a time when we need significant rest, and God provides us a desert of deliverance. 

God created us to need rest and therefore he provides us the time to rest when we need it.  I love the verse from the prophet Isaiah that says, “For the Lord comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song” (Isaiah 51:3).

One of the most important lessons from our desert times of life is the knowledge that God walks them with us providing comfort and all we need until we come to a place of thanksgiving and praise.  Our desert times have a beginning and an end.  More importantly, our desert times have a good purpose.

WHAT DESERTS DO YOU REMEMBER?

To close, we should ask God to remind us of the desert times in our own lives. It was probably difficult to praise him at first, but what did you learn?  How did God deliver you from that time?  Isn’t it interesting that we most often remember what God taught us, rather than why those times were difficult?

I think that is what God would have us know as we exit the desert time labeled “COVID.”  We should try to remember what God taught us during those days.

My favorite verse for the desert times is from the prophet Isaiah. He wrote, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19).  

God is always redeeming our deserts for a new purpose in our lives.  It has been tough, and now, for most of us, it isn’t. God is working to make himself known in this world.  God is providing a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. A few years ago we prayed for God to end the drought and he did.  A year ago we prayed for God to end the plague of COVID and he did. 

What are you praying for today?  

Our desert times have a purpose because they were part of God’s plan.  When you enter a desert time– and you will– take the journey with God.  He brought you to that time for a reason, and his promise is to redeem it for your good, if you will walk that desert with his good purpose in mind. (From Romans 8:28).

May your journey forward be blessed with the comfort of God’s presence.  He is good; all the time.