But in her special report for CNN, Dr. Luhrmann offers a surprisingly supportive scientific analysis of evangelical Christians who claim that they have heard God speak to them. She concludes by stating, "Science cannot tell us whether God generated the voice that Abraham or Augustine heard. But it can tell us that many of these events are normal, part of the fabric of human perception."
There you have it: If you hear God speak to you, you might not be crazy after all. Dr. Luhrmann concludes with a powerful example of hearing Jesus speak: "When the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. sat at his kitchen table, in the winter of 1956, terrified by the fear of what might happen to him and his family during the Montgomery bus boycott, he said he heard the voice of Jesus promising, 'I will be with you.' He went forward." -CNN, December 29, 2012, Tanya Marie Luhrmann
The main question today is not, "Is God speaking?" God is speaking all the time. The question is, are WE listening? The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day to day poor poor speech, night by night comes knowledge. That's speaking of natural revelation, but that's one way of God speaking trying to get our attention. But it says the word of the Lord was rare, why? Because no one was listening.
And so how can we know when God is speaking, how do we know which voice is ours and which voice is God's? What aids our ability to hear the Lord's Holy Spirit? Well, lets get our Bibles out and read 1st Samuel, Chapter 3 and try to get an answer.
There are a few verses that just jump right out at you in this text, at least they do to me and they all have to do with hearing God or not hearing God. In Verse 1 it says, "In those days the word of the Lord was rare." Verse 7 is another one of those standout verses, "Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him." And then Verse 10 the one that many of you know, "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening." Again, the main question is not, Is God speaking? God is speaking all the time. The question is, are we listening?
If you read before Chapter 3 you will see a chilling account of people who were most supposed to be listening, but who were the most deaf: The priesthood, Eli and his sons. The point I am trying to make about being able to hear God speak is that we must be ready to hear. Why? Because spiritual knowledge begins outside of ourselves. Samuel did not yet know the Lord. Why? Because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. (This point is worth remembering!)
To Samuel, the voice came three times and he didn't understand. Yet many people report in retrospect God trying to get their attention repeatedly before truly responding in faith. And isn't our whole spiritual growth measured by a sense of progressive attending. Every time God speaks we have the option of openness or closedness It's at the point that we keep saying, "Yes, Lord," that we move forward.
Whenever we say, no I don't think so or I am not sure I want to hear this, we regress and we go stale. Revelation and response; revelation and response, revelation and response; it is a continual thing, which is why Jesus said after teaching the Parable of the Sower--four different responses about hearing God's word.
Therefore, there needs to be a readiness to listen accompanied by an honest response to what God is speaking. When God is speaking to us many times, the way to discern is very specific; it's pinpointed on a certain thing. When God called Moses he said, "Moses!" and when God called to Samuel he said, "Samuel!" and the third time he said, "Samuel, Samuel."
What is this trying to tell us about God? That God is good at remembering names? Yes and no, that we have a God that desires to be known on a first name basis and when God came to Moses he revealed who he was. I am who I am. I will be what I will be, in a self-disclosing, intimate dialogue kind of way; and he wants to do that with all of us.
In fact, when Moses and somewhat with Samuel, both of them in both accounts, God tells them what he is about to do. Jesus says, "I don't call you slaves anymore. I call you friends, because a servant doesn't know what his Lord is about to do." Samuel, this is what I am about to do. Moses, this is what I am going to do and it reflects Psalm 25:14, "The Lord confides in those who fear him. The secret of the Lord is for those who fear him."
People are caught up in a rat-race of living. It's not the whip of an Egyptian taskmaster, but the whip of greed or covetousness or preoccupation with things that enslave. The call to Moses and the call to Samuel is a call to each one of us to partner with God, to deliver others from the things that bind them, from the things that enslave them. The call to Samuel is the call to speak a word of hope to a generation gone deaf, so that they too might come out of isolated living into community.
I mentioned this earlier, but it is worth repeating: To hear God speak we must be ready to hear.Why? Because spiritual knowledge begins outside of ourselves. Samuel did not yet know the Lord. Why? Because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. But dear readers, what is our excuse..?
Scripture: John 10:27; Romans 10:17; Hebrews 4:12; John 8:47; Jeremiah 33:3; Luke 11:28; Hebrews 2:1; Galatians 3:5
Prayer: Gracious Lord, we do thank you for your promise that you would lead us into all truth, that the Holy Spirit would bring to our remembrance and our mind that which is of you; and we pray that you would indeed open our ears because it is very, very hard sometimes to hear you Lord; and at other times we honestly don't want to hear you, so use this message to help us to hear a little better, so that we might know how much you love us and care for us and call us; in Jesus name. Amen.
-special thanks to Rev. George Antonakos
Have a blessed week,
Mary Beth
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