Brief Tips on Hearing God

Mike Hosey, An Elder

There is no reason to believe that God no longer speaks to men.  In fact, there is an established pattern from the beginning of the bible, all the way to the end, in which God speaks to his creation.  This is prime evidence of his desire to be intimate with us, and for us to know him. After all, without communication, there is no real intimacy. 

Initially, he spoke to Adam and Eve through clearly audible words in a person-to-person kind of way.  After they sinned and corruption entered the world, that personal kind of communication diminished considerably. Sin killed our ability to be intimate, and therefore to communicate with him.  At some point, God began to talk to people primarily through prophets. Then he began to speak to them through scriptures. After the birth of Jesus, in his efforts to save us, God returned to intimate, face-to-face communication as he walked among us as a man. After his resurrection, he returned to speaking to us through scriptures, but also through his Holy Spirit. Interestingly, throughout all of it, God was sure to speak to us through his very creation so that we were never without want (or excuse) for hearing his word or obtaining intimacy (Psalm 19:1-4, Romans 1:20).

It would, therefore, make sense that God desires continued communication today, as we have not yet been fully restored to intimacy. Many people share that they do not hear from God.  If you haven’t heard from him, consider the following:

Intimacy - Am I doing anything that hampers intimacy with him, and therefore prevents me from hearing him?  If we are doing things that are selfish, or that place us outside of his will, he could be screaming at us and we probably wouldn’t hear it. Broken humans tend to hear what they want to hear when it comes to God. 

Scriptures – How familiar are you with the word he’s already spoken?  He has told us so much in the Bible already.  Have you considered if what you are asking for is already addressed in his word?

Situations – God sometimes speaks to us through situations.  Consider the story of Jonah.  God tells the prophet to serve a people he hated. Jonah didn’t want to do it, and ran the other way.  God then spoke to him by engineering his situations, making life hard for him, and by physically directing his path. If you’re not hearing from God, pray, and take a look at the world around you to see if God is speaking to you through how he’s arranged it.