Sometimes God calls us to do things that, on the surface, seem to make no sense. Like to accept a position at a Big 4 accounting firm even though you didn’t have the best internship experience. Or to move from your home and comfort zone of New England to go live in the DC area where you would have to start completely fresh. Or to leave your job after a year to go serve in 3rd world countries for 11 months. Or in the midst of fundraising for this mission trip that He calls you to go on, prompting you to give to others when you are unsure of how you are going to meet financial deadlines yourself.
I struggled for the longest time with hearing God’s voice. Or rather, I struggled with trusting that I was hearing God’s voice. There were certain instances where I thought I heard His voice, acted out in obedience, and it worked out great. And there were other times where I thought I heard His voice, thought I was acting in faith, and things didn’t happen so smoothly. I feel like, especially in the past year, I’ve let myself get so overwhelmed by the latter experiences, that I’ve convinced myself that I don’t hear God’s voice. There are certain times where I do get something and I know it’s God. Like when I was praying about going on the Race, I’m in my room gently playing worship songs with my guitar, I close my eyes, and I start feeling like this is gonna be me in Nicaragua. My initial thought was “none of the routes are even going to Nicaragua so…” But in obedience, I looked up the route I was interested in, and sure enough, third country on the list was Nicaragua.
Times like that I could be sure that I was hearing from God, because there was a validation that came along with it. But things that were open ended and not as easily verifiable, I found I struggled so much to trust in whether it was God. Partly because I know that we hear three voices: God’s, ourselves, and the enemy. The enemy’s voice is pretty easy to recognize right? It’s the one that speaks negatively, tries to get you to disobey God and think it’s ok. The one that tries to discourage you, and tell you things like “you can’t do it” or “you won’t make it” or “you’re way out of your league”. The one that tries to get you to dwell on mistakes you’ve made in the past, and convince you there’s no hope. Actually, sometimes it’s not that easy to recognize. Sometimes you may mistake them for your thoughts and start to think of them as truth, and then eventually they start to shape your core values and you begin to let it define who you are, without even realizing it.
I’ve learned over the years how to recognize the voice of the enemy. I can be quick to point out his voice and his lies and his mechanisms for deception and…and I’ve realized, if it was so easy for me to recognize the voice of the enemy, it can be just as easy for me to recognize God’s voice, who I follow after and to whom I have given my life.
So I trust that I hear God’s voice. I trust that I can also recognize His voice. And because of this I can act out in faith and obedience and do whatever it is that He calls me to do. Like leave my job to go serve for 11 months, or not have any fundraising events because He asked me to just trust Him, or even to give to others when my resources are already limited. But that’s the kind of God that we serve. He calls us to do things that seemingly make no sense, but when we walk in faith and obedience, He responds in unimaginable ways.
As the verse goes…faith without works is dead.
And not to be confused, we are not saved by what we do. Salvation is a gift freely given by grace, through our faith in Jesus Christ alone.
