Hearing from God
"The Spirit who inhabits us is not mute, restricting himself to an occasional nudge, a hot flash, a brilliant image or a case of goose bumps" -- Dallas Willard
"So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them." Luke 8:18
Here is a confession. My most challenging and rewarding class that I have ever taken (high school, college, graduate schools combined) was called Advanced Choir. I know that sounds crazy in light of years of difficult science, Seminary, and organizational management courses. Yet, when I reflect back, its high school choir that required the deepest level of focus and understanding.
I am a person with a very average voice who grew up in a family without a significant musical history. The advanced choir in high school, was one of the top competitive choirs in the state of Ohio, with most members encouraged to participate in individual state contests as well. The challenge in choir was not singing, but listening. It was the ability to hear not only "your part" but to understand the role of your sound in the overall harmony. This required a knowledge of the others part as well as the overall desired sound. It took considerable training to gain listening skills and the vocal skills for that level of choral participation.
I believe that discerning the voice of God is equally challenging. It requires discipline and significant effort on our behalf. Jesus told his followers to pay attention to "how" they hear. Contemporary Christians have been extremely polarized in their expectations of actually hearing from God. Some have ruled out actually hearing directly from God and substitute scripture reading, community wisdom, faith traditions, and even human reasoning. This is not to say that God does not speak through these conduits but that it is short sided to limit God's voice to those things. Other Christians hear the voice of God continually in not only voices but numerology, coincidences, and every type of sensory experience. While, God can communicate in many many ways, there can be a tendency to turn discernment into speculation when everything speaks for God. This is why Jesus tells us to "pay close attention to what you hear" as well as "how" (Mark 4:24).
There are multiple reasons that interfere with our ability to discern the voice of God. Discernment is the quality of being able to understand what is obscure. While God is constantly speaking, our ability to hear is clouded. As a pediatrician, I regularly screen children who are having problems with hearing. Similarly, as a pastor, I regularly counsel disciples who are have the same problem. Interestingly, both come down to the same 3 issues.
1. The Ear is injured: The hearing mechanism in the human ear is very, very delicate. Infections, mild trauma, and medication toxicities are common causes of scarring the hearing mechanisms so that we can not hear despite the fact that sound is made. Likewise, the ability to discern is made up of multiple parts including our abilities to be attentive, to be focused, and to apply what we hear. If we are emotionally unhealthy, then our ability to hear and understand is severely compromised. God directed his prophet Moses to encourage the Israelites in the midst of their suffering but Exodus 6 tells us that they "would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and cruel slavery" (Exodus 6:9). Our emotional health impacts our ability to hear. In the midst of our wounds, our hearing is often impaired.
2 The Ear is blocked: The hearing mechanism requires a clear path for the transmission of sound waves The most common cause of impaired hearing in children is impacted ear wax. Literally, the ear is healthy but the sound waves are prevented from impacting the ear drum. Among adults, one of the most common disorders of hearing is tinnitus, an abnormal inner ear issue that causes a loud "ringing" of the ears. In tinnitus, the ability to hear is obscured by sounds generated within. I have found that most followers of Jesus are distracted by internal noise that is competing with the sound of the voice of God. Our own noise literally drowns and chokes out the voice and message of God. Until we learn to silence ourselves, hearing God is nearly impossible.
3. The Ear is untrained: Through advances in technology, hearing is being given to some children with congenital causes of hearing loss. When they first hear sounds, they struggle to understand the meaning of sound or the social implications of things like voice inflection or alarms. Meaning and patterns must be taught. When singing, I learned that understanding chord progressions and rhythms allowed me to understand how the music is to be expressed. Likewise, we must train our ears to hear the voice of God and to detect it among the competing sounds. We must literally discipline our ears to hear through the practice of prayer.
So whether your ear is injured, blocked or simply untrained, we know that God desires to speak to you. He speaks continually but we need to listen for him. This includes reading of Scripture and the receipt of wisdom in community, but our listening should not be limited to that. We should expect to experience the presence of God in our prayer lives. How God communicates varies among his followers, but God is consistent with his desire to share with those who love him. Scripture says that God "confides" in those who revere him (Psalm 25:14).
Its my prayer that 2019 is the year of listening. I pray that you will hear from God regularly and that your communion with God will deepen!
"God works through life, through people, and through physical, tangible and material reality to communicate his healing presence in our live" -Robert E. Webber
"So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them." Luke 8:18
Here is a confession. My most challenging and rewarding class that I have ever taken (high school, college, graduate schools combined) was called Advanced Choir. I know that sounds crazy in light of years of difficult science, Seminary, and organizational management courses. Yet, when I reflect back, its high school choir that required the deepest level of focus and understanding.
I am a person with a very average voice who grew up in a family without a significant musical history. The advanced choir in high school, was one of the top competitive choirs in the state of Ohio, with most members encouraged to participate in individual state contests as well. The challenge in choir was not singing, but listening. It was the ability to hear not only "your part" but to understand the role of your sound in the overall harmony. This required a knowledge of the others part as well as the overall desired sound. It took considerable training to gain listening skills and the vocal skills for that level of choral participation.
I believe that discerning the voice of God is equally challenging. It requires discipline and significant effort on our behalf. Jesus told his followers to pay attention to "how" they hear. Contemporary Christians have been extremely polarized in their expectations of actually hearing from God. Some have ruled out actually hearing directly from God and substitute scripture reading, community wisdom, faith traditions, and even human reasoning. This is not to say that God does not speak through these conduits but that it is short sided to limit God's voice to those things. Other Christians hear the voice of God continually in not only voices but numerology, coincidences, and every type of sensory experience. While, God can communicate in many many ways, there can be a tendency to turn discernment into speculation when everything speaks for God. This is why Jesus tells us to "pay close attention to what you hear" as well as "how" (Mark 4:24).
There are multiple reasons that interfere with our ability to discern the voice of God. Discernment is the quality of being able to understand what is obscure. While God is constantly speaking, our ability to hear is clouded. As a pediatrician, I regularly screen children who are having problems with hearing. Similarly, as a pastor, I regularly counsel disciples who are have the same problem. Interestingly, both come down to the same 3 issues.
1. The Ear is injured: The hearing mechanism in the human ear is very, very delicate. Infections, mild trauma, and medication toxicities are common causes of scarring the hearing mechanisms so that we can not hear despite the fact that sound is made. Likewise, the ability to discern is made up of multiple parts including our abilities to be attentive, to be focused, and to apply what we hear. If we are emotionally unhealthy, then our ability to hear and understand is severely compromised. God directed his prophet Moses to encourage the Israelites in the midst of their suffering but Exodus 6 tells us that they "would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and cruel slavery" (Exodus 6:9). Our emotional health impacts our ability to hear. In the midst of our wounds, our hearing is often impaired.
2 The Ear is blocked: The hearing mechanism requires a clear path for the transmission of sound waves The most common cause of impaired hearing in children is impacted ear wax. Literally, the ear is healthy but the sound waves are prevented from impacting the ear drum. Among adults, one of the most common disorders of hearing is tinnitus, an abnormal inner ear issue that causes a loud "ringing" of the ears. In tinnitus, the ability to hear is obscured by sounds generated within. I have found that most followers of Jesus are distracted by internal noise that is competing with the sound of the voice of God. Our own noise literally drowns and chokes out the voice and message of God. Until we learn to silence ourselves, hearing God is nearly impossible.
3. The Ear is untrained: Through advances in technology, hearing is being given to some children with congenital causes of hearing loss. When they first hear sounds, they struggle to understand the meaning of sound or the social implications of things like voice inflection or alarms. Meaning and patterns must be taught. When singing, I learned that understanding chord progressions and rhythms allowed me to understand how the music is to be expressed. Likewise, we must train our ears to hear the voice of God and to detect it among the competing sounds. We must literally discipline our ears to hear through the practice of prayer.
So whether your ear is injured, blocked or simply untrained, we know that God desires to speak to you. He speaks continually but we need to listen for him. This includes reading of Scripture and the receipt of wisdom in community, but our listening should not be limited to that. We should expect to experience the presence of God in our prayer lives. How God communicates varies among his followers, but God is consistent with his desire to share with those who love him. Scripture says that God "confides" in those who revere him (Psalm 25:14).
Its my prayer that 2019 is the year of listening. I pray that you will hear from God regularly and that your communion with God will deepen!
"God works through life, through people, and through physical, tangible and material reality to communicate his healing presence in our live" -Robert E. Webber
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