I was once questioned about the viability of hearing God’s voice. Obviously a little skeptical of the biblical moorings of this practice, a zealous young man wanted me to share what I understood about this outworking from the Scriptures.
I explained to him that I had no desire to convince him of something that he wasn’t open to receive. It is nearly impossible to persuade someone to embrace a reality that they believe is outside the scope of human experience.
Nevertheless, this passionate young man persisted in his inquiry. As I carefully listened to him, I could tell he wasn’t trying to be argumentative. So I finally relented and shared a bit of what I’ve discovered.
I explained to him that hearing from God in no way implies that one is picking up on everything God is saying. In fact, a person probably isn’t picking up on very much at all. However, people who are relationally connected to the heavenly Father can tune in and catch aspects of the “heavenly frequency.”
I pointed out that, under the unction of the Holy Spirit, David revealed that God has a myriad of thoughts. In fact, the scope of what’s being imagined in heaven is immeasurable. Listen to what David recounts in the following:
“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You” (Ps. 139:17-18).
David reveals that the thoughts that God has for any particular person could be as vast as the grains of sand. Our Protestant religious tradition has a tendency to downplay God’s active, day-to-day concern about men, but David somehow comprehended this surprising outworking.
I explained that elsewhere David declared:
“O Lord my God, You have done many wonderful works, and Your thoughts toward us cannot be compared; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered” (Ps. 40:5).
Again, one sees that God is actively feeling and imagining things about His creation. This may go against our assumptions, but God is deeply concerned with the particulars. In fact, God has a multitude of thoughts and concerns about specific individuals and circumstances. He is ecstatic about callings, giftings and ultimate destinies. These expressions actually reverberate throughout the cosmos.
This passage suggests that God’s thoughts can sometimes be accessed. In fact, they could be ascertained and publicly decreed to others.
In other words, a righteous man has the capacity to pick up “snippets” of God’s benevolent intentions. They can “hear” incredible truths, in sync with Scripture, that are reverberating in the background. He who has ears to hear can pick up on “fragments” of God’s vast array of thought.
As I finished, I could tell that my brief explanation wasn’t adequate for this young man. It not only seemed frivolous, but it was also outside His understanding of God’s nature and intent. His view of God left little room for direct experiences or expression.
I smiled as I told him that if David’s wonderful insights from Scripture weren’t enough, then nothing else I could say would improve upon them.
J.D. King is the international director of World Revival Network. Click here to subscribe to his blog.
