Listening to God’s voice for direction and salvation

In a small discussion group, we have, over the past few days, focused our attention on “hearing God’s voice”. This, in turn, has come from our acknowledgment that God does speak to us and that God desires that we listen. God, is a communicating God. So, the question has been: Are we communicating?

Communication is a two-way street, as anyone familiar with any kind of relationship, will acknowledge. So, is this two-way street open?

Over the past few days, I have therefore, thought seriously about why and how God keeps God’s end of the street open. If I get a grasp of that, it will facilitate my understanding of why and how I – or we – fail to keep our end open. I have been amazed by just how many biblical references there are, pointing to God’s desire – even appeal – to get our attention.

I am going to memorize Psalm 50:1: “The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting”. Think about that! God does not tire or quit seeking to speak to us. Then there is Psalm 95:7b: ” that today you would listen to God’s voice!”. This is repeated in Hebrews 4:7: “Today, if you hear God’s voice”. Again, it is about now, today, not tomorrow or on Sunday, or after this or that. It is this moment. A similar entreaty is found in Psalm 81:8b which says, “O Israel, if you would but listen to me!”.

There are benefits that come out of listening to God’s voice. The two examples above are predicated with “if”. From very early in God’s relationship with the people of Israel, in Exodus 15:26, we read: “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord, your God, and do what is right in the Lord’s sight, and give heed to the Lord’s commandments, …I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians”.

Thus, God desires to show us what is right in God’s sight. In a world driven by many and conflicting “truths” we need God’s voice to lead us. Even when we stray, there is hope and consolation, as Deuteronomy 4:30-31 shows: “In your distress, when all these things have happened to you in time to come, you will return to the Lord your God and heed the Lord, because your God is a merciful God, and will neither abandon you nor destroy you…”

We see, therefore, that there is not only direction, but also salvation, in listening to God’s voice.

There is more on this still to come.

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