Silence. Sometimes its a beautiful thing that we crave, that we need even. And sometimes its the opposite. Sometimes the silence is so loud that its deafening and it drives us mad.
What about the silence of God in our lives? In our hearts? Most of us speak in such a way, that we can’t hear the voice of God. We think that he doesn’t speak to us. That the only connection we really have to him is through his word. Is this really true though? I believe that God still speaks to each of us. No it may not sound like a booming voice from heaven, and thats perfectly ok. Because to be honest if that happened most of us would probably freak out a little.
Exodus: 20:19 “And they said to Moses, speak to us yourself and we will listen, but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die”
See I believe God to be a gentleman. He isn’t going to force you to listen to him, he isn’t going to scream from the heavens telling you that you are making the wrong choices. He certainly can do that, but I believe he is much more gentle than that. He wants us to live in harmony with his Holy Spirit. His spirit that speaks to us, that comforts us, and makes intercession for us. It’s taken me a long time to figure out what this looks like. Its taken me a long time to hear what he sounds like, and I’m still working on it. Still practicing listening to his voice. Because a lot of the time I’ve discounted it by saying its my own voice. Those are my own thoughts or my own feelings. But if that was true and nobody could hear the voice of God, how does anyone know that they are called to preach, or teach, or be a missionary, or anything else in life? How would we distinguish between a call God has placed on our life, or just our own personal desires? The very reason I am here is because I responded to the call that God has placed in my heart. I’m here because I have heard from God.
So we know that God speaks to each of us directly by placing certain desires on our hearts, but is that the only way? Well up until recently it had been the only way that I had ever experienced it. And because its the only way I had ever experienced it, that must mean its the only way, right?
Oh how I have a story for you.
Last Monday we split up into groups for ministry. Some of us were out evangelizing, while others were worshipping in public and interceding for our team through prayer. I felt lead to go with the group that would be praying and worshipping on a mountain overlooking the entire city that we would be staying in. And God showed me something amazing.
Earlier that day or perhaps the night before I had this image pop up in my mind. Something that I just thought was a beautiful scene that my mind had forged up and nothing more. And so I didn’t put a lot of emphasis on it. But the image was this…. I saw something that I thought was a courtyard of sorts, I didn’t really see walls, just that it was surrounded by white or gray squares with this grassy area in the middle. And on the left side there was a tree without any blooms that was growing and branching out over the corner of my vision. And behind that an incredible forest of trees.
So in my mind I’m like, well thats a neat mental image. No idea where it came from, but ohhhh well. And thats it. I had no reason to think it was anything else other than a random creation of my imagination. But then we get to the mountain. And as we pull up the first thing we all see is this giant log that has “Agape” written on it. And thus it has been dubbed ”Agape Overlook.”
Instantly I’m like, ok Lord, thats really cool. Agape. For those of you that don’t know, Agape is the highest form of love. It is the love of God for man, and of man for God. There is no higher form. Agape love is unconditional and sacrificial. What we experience for other people pales in comparison to the love God has for us. So I see this word Agape. And I think, “ok this is going to be a rocking worship session.” That’s what was in my head. And as we began to sing and pray over the city I kept looking out over the city and I swear to you, I could hear the foundations of the earth crying out to God. Psalm 19:1 “The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork.” As I looked over the horizon and realized that I could not see the end of the ocean, I thought about how vast and how deep it was. And how in comparison it is nothing compared to the love God has for us. And as I had that thought I continued to walk back and forth and then I saw it. Upon my vision was the same image that I had seen earlier that day. The same exact image.
So it wasn’t exactly a courtyard, it was actually an agricultural project of sorts way off in the distance. But as I see this, I notice this tree without any blooms on it stretching over the lower left corner of my vision. And I was just like wow….. My first thought was just that this was incredible because something like this has never happened to me before. And then my second thought was that this is exactly where I am supposed to be standing right now, in this moment. Which means I truly am supposed to be here in Australia. Which means the World Race was where God called me. There was a ton of confirmation in this moment that this was God’s plan for my life and that he had always intended for me to be standing there in that moment.
And then I began to think . . . . how often do we hear from God? How often is he actually speaking to us and we just don’t know how to listen? How many times had God tried to show me a certain path to walk and yet I just ignored it because I didn’t know how to distinguish his voice in the midst of all my thoughts. And I know some of you may be like . . . . Nooooooo. That is not right. God doesn’t speak to us like that. God doesn’t show us visions, or dreams, or anything of the sort. God doesn’t move like he used to.
You may be thinking He is the same today as He was yesterday and will be tomorrow, but also be thinking, even if He did move like that in the past He wont today. Why? Why do we think that? If God is never changing, why do we think he isn’t able or willing to move in the same ways today?
This has been a hard thing for me to accept in my life, and something even harder to talk about because of a fear of judgment from those that I love. But here I am writing this because I feel its something God wanted me to put out there. Honestly writing this has been scary to me. Putting myself out there and saying that God has shown me this goes against a lot of the theology that I have grown up with. And this is not me saying that I have compromised my beliefs. But I also have decided that I am no longer putting a limit on who God is or how he works. Because here is the thing. God’s character is predictable. His methods however, are not. And if God is only as big as what you can conceive in your mind, then he isn’t much of a god. God is bigger than our comprehension and he has shown me time and time again that I know absolutely nothing, and thats ok.
I’m no longer putting a limit on who God is. I want to see him in his fullness. I am giving myself over fully to God and his will for my life. Where he leads I will follow. If that means doing some crazy things in the name of the Lord, well I’m all about that. Because when God is truly in something nothing can stand against us.
With that being said, what are some ways that God has spoken to man in the past?
1. He has literally spelled it out on the wall.
Daniel 5:5 – “Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lamp stand in the royal palace. The king watched as the hand wrote.”
2. Dreams & Visions. God uses dreams a lot throughout the word. God even says he will do this in Acts 2:17, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.”
Job 33:15-16 “In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction.”
3. Angels. There have been many times throughout the word where an angel or messenger has been sent to speak on behalf of the Lord. We can see this before John the Baptist is born, before Jesus is born, we see them in the story of Gideon, etc.
4. Signs. God sometimes shows us his will by providing signs to us. When we look at the story of Gideon on his journey to becoming a mighty man of valor, he asked God to provide several signs in order to show him that God was going to lead him through the coming battle. ~ Judges 6:36-40
5. His gentle voice. 1 Kings 19:9-12 “…. and after the fire came a gentle whisper.”
6. And now we have his Holy Spirit. Guys we have God living inside of us. And God speaks to us directly through that selfsame spirit. Its not just a force that steers our conscience. Its not just hanging around watching you. The spirit of God is something that cannot be contained. It can’t be limited. When we look at the heroes of the faith or look at the disciples that were in the presence of Jesus we often look back at them in awe and wish that we could have experienced Jesus in that way. But we have God inside of us. We have a power that those in the Old Testament did not have.
These are only a few ways that are listed throughout the word in how the Lord has spoken with us in the past, but what I’m really trying to drive home is why do we put a limit on who God is? Why do we put a limit on how God is allowed to speak with us. He is God. When we put a limit on how God is allowed to speak with us, we actually put a limit on the ways that we are able to hear him, and in doing so we are actually cutting ourselves off from the voice of God. We are cutting ourselves off from his direction, from his guidance. And we are pushing ourselves into silence. A silence that is more deafening than we can imagine.
Are you experiencing the silence of God in your life? Or are you just not tuned into his voice? I encourage everyone reading this to take a moment, turn away from all distractions. Turn off the tv, turn the music off, shut off your phone, clear your schedule, and be still. Be still and listen. If you don’t hear anything thats ok. Sometimes he is silent, but keep listening. Practice listening prayer. And in everything you do expect him to show up and he will. God wants to be heard, he just waits for us to listen.
Are you listening?
