In our first session we established that God does indeed hide Himself from us, and He does so on purpose. All throughout Scripture we find that God cannot be seen.
In our second session we showed that although God cannot be detected by any of the physical methods of scientific investigation, He has nonetheless left His tracks all over our world and has imprinted His eternal attributes in our minds.
Rom. 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
And it is my observation that those who say that God does not make Himself known are not paying attention. It’s almost as if God is engaged in a game of “hide and seek.” It is a little like the peek-a-boo I engage in with my youngest granddaughter.
A year or so ago when our oldest granddaughter was younger, Sherlene played “hide and seek” with her. When Sherlene first introduced her to the game, she would hide and have Charlotte look for her. After a short time of being unsuccessful in finding Grandma, Charlotte would begin to cry in fear. In her mind Grandma was gone and she was all alone. She was so relieved when Grandma came out from hiding and was reunited with her. It took some time for her to understand what the game was all about and learn to squeal in delight when Grandma surprised her by popping out of her hiding place.
When we complain about God hiding Himself we are like Charlotte who was too unfamiliar with the game to appreciate the fun and joy of it all.
So, why does God play this game of “hide and seek” with us? I believe there are at least three reasons why he hides.
First of all, I believe it is because of His love of free will. C. S. Lewis in his book “Mere Christianity” says,
Why is God landing in this enemy-occupied world in disguise and starting a sort of secret society to undermine the devil? Why is He not landing in force, invading it? Is it that He is not strong enough? Well, Christians think He is going to land in force; we do not know when. But we can guess why He is delaying. He wants to give us the chance of joining His side freely. I do not suppose you and I would have thought much of a Frenchman who waited till the Allies were marching into Germany and then announced he was on our side. God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else – something it never entered your head to conceive – comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.[1]
Is Lewis right? Let’s take a look.
Exodus 20:18-21 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
This happened right after God spoke the Ten Commandments to them from Mount Sinai. The terror that filled their minds at this sight was nothing compared to the future event that C. S. Lewis describes. Yet the Israelites, at hearing God and seeing the spectacle of Mount Sinai trembling at His voice, really had no choice. Though they wavered in their belief later on, at that event they were all believers to the last man.
What I mean to say here is that if God revealed Himself to the extent that most of us desire, then all possibilities for making a choice are removed. God so cherishes this opportunity for us to love Him freely that He purposely hides Himself.
A little over a year ago we studied the secret purposes of God. As I mentioned in an earlier session, one of those purposes was to find a bride for His Son. What good is a bride who is forced against her will to marry someone. That’s slavery, not love! Love, real love, true love, demands choice. Even in countries where marriages are arranged, true love can never be arranged. If a bride or groom is forced into a marriage against their will, they are married, but they do not love each other. This is not to say that those couples cannot eventually love each other. But this only comes as a result of a choice on their part, not because their marriage was arranged.
The next reason I believe God hides is that you and I value what we seek. Jesus illustrated this in several of His parables. Let’s look at a few.
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=M02JCNNU
Matt. 13:44-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
Here we see that the prize these characters searched for was so valuable to them that they sold everything they had in order to obtain it.
One of the most highly priced materials in the world is gold. Why do we value it so highly? Because it is so hard to find. There is so little of it. All the gold that has ever been mined would fit into two Olympic-sized swimming pools. That’s not a lot of anything! As a result men sold everything they had, bought wagons and supplies, and headed for the wild west during the Gold Rush in California in the mid 1800s. They valued this because it was so hard to find.
How many of us box up a shovel of dirt, pack it down to the bank, and rent a safe deposit box for it? That’s ludicrous! Dirt is everywhere! I don’t have to look for it. Upon seeing one of those air pumps at a gas station that advertised, “Free Air,” my youngest son once exclaimed, “Free air!? I’m breathin’ it!” Why do people pay exorbitant amounts of money for bottled water? Because someone has advertised that it comes from some rare source in the Ozarks. We have accepted the illusion that this pristine water is hard to find.
Why would someone pay $117,000 for a bottle of 1811 Chateau d”Yquem wine? Because it is impossible to find. It is the rarest of the rare! It can never be produced again! When it’s gone, it’s gone.
We value what is hard to find. We prize that for which we must diligently seek. Isn’t there a Bible verse about that?
Deut. 4:29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
This verse follows strong warnings to the Israelites after they settled in the land of Canaan. Essentially God says here that if they take God for granted, fail to highly value Him, and treat God as something as common as dirt, that He will scatter them among the nations and will be hard to find after that. But He will be found if He is searched for diligently. In other words, once they come to understand the treasure that God is, then He can be found.
The third reason that God hides is really a bit of a misnomer. It is because we are not paying attention. How many of you can hear KLTY radio right now? You do understand that the radio signal from KLTY is passing through this room right now, right? The reason it is hidden to us is that we do not possess the ability to process the signal in a way that we can understand it. Our bodies do not possess the ability to transform the electromagnetic signal into sound waves so that our ears can hear it. Back in the 70s, the truckers using CB radios use to call out to another trucker by asking, “You got your ears on?”
God is talking. God is revealing Himself, but we’re not paying attention. We don’t have the wherewithal to hear Him or perceive His presence. Jesus addressed this issue all the time when He taught the crowds. What did He say? “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” He acknowledged that not everyone is paying attention.
So today, I’d like to provide you with some tools to help you tune into what God is saying. Many who complain about not hearing His voice have never learned to recognize it because we’re too busy talking at God rather than talking with Him. Prayer journals are typically a list of people for whom we are praying, or a list of prayer requests that we bring to God every day when we pray. Then we place a check mark when that prayer is answered with, perhaps, a date. Imagine what it would be like if you kept a similar journal of interactions with your best friend or your spouse. Of course husbands have to deal with this all the time. It’s called a “honey do” list.
I’ve done a lot of surfing on the Internet to find out how most modern day teachers explain how to hear God’s voice. There are several common themes that I want to share with you. If you struggle with hearing God’s voice I want you to practice these steps in the next two weeks, then come back and share what you heard God say with the rest of us.
Be Still
I know that if you are a type-A person, this will be very difficult. It seems like a waste of time. Task oriented people will see very little value in being quiet and still.
Psa. 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;”
But when we are not accustomed to hearing God’s voice we have to still the noise of the activity around us to be able to tune in to God’s frequency. How many of you saw the “For Sale” sign in the window of the shop in the “Music Box” video that we just played? It was a very key visual for understanding what happened. The clutter of sound and activity in the room made this fleeting scene hard to remember. If you did not know to look for it, you missed it.
This may take some time and concentration. In the beginning you may have to set a timer to make sure you are quiet for 4 or 5 minutes. As you practice, it will become natural. For those of you who love quiet, you’re already home free.
Listen
As I stated earlier, most of our prayer time is spent talking at God. If this is your experience then listening to what He will say does not come naturally. The Holy Spirit is gentlemanly and will not interrupt you. It is nearly impossible to talk and listen at the same time.
Hab. 2:1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, …
This verse expresses through the words of Habbakuk what I’m trying to say here. Keep watch! What does a watchman do? He looks and listens. If he is busy playing games on his cell phone or posting to Facebook, he cannot listen to what is going on around him.
Recognize His Voice
What does God’s voice sound like? Mark Virkler probably puts it more succinctly than anyone else. “God's voice in our hearts sounds like a flow of spontaneous thoughts. Therefore, when I tune to God, I tune to spontaneity.”[2] A lot of people have trouble with this statement. I have trouble with this statement. The reason is that those not accustomed to God’s voice will come up with all kinds of strange stuff. Some will even hear the voice of Satan. But that’s not a problem. Why do I say that? Because everything you hear must be checked out to see if it is from God. Here are the tests that you apply to what you hear.[3]
· Does it line up with Scripture and the nature of God as revealed in the Bible? God’s Word is the primary way that He speaks to us. If you aren’t reading Scripture and aligning your thoughts with the way God thinks (meditation), then you will come up with all kinds of strange malarkey that is totally at odds with God’s ways.
· Does it produce the fruit of the Spirit? How does it measure up against what is found in Galatians 5:22-23? But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
· Does it release you? Does it set you free? Not from the circumstances you are in, but from the power that those circumstances have over you? Does it fill you with vengeance and anger or set you free from those emotions?
So let’s look at an example. Here’s a young man who’s been married for seven years. He and his wife are becoming distant to each other now that they are both very involved in careers and building for the future. This man becomes attracted to another woman at work and is really torn. He feels distant from his wife and loves the way this young woman at work makes him feel. So he decides to take my advice above and hear God’s voice. The spontaneous thought that comes across his mind is that he should divorce his wife and pursue a relationship with this new woman. So what does Scripture say about this?
Malachi 2:15-16 So guard the spirit of marriage within you. Don't cheat on your spouse. "I hate divorce," says the God of Israel. God-of-the-Angel-Armies says, "I hate the violent dismembering of the 'one flesh' of marriage." So watch yourselves. Don't let your guard down. Don't cheat. (The Message)
Now, I’ve gone through a bunch of warnings here that sound really negative. I don’t want it to be that way because we really do need to listen to thoughts that light upon our minds so that we can begin to hear God’s voice.
Journaling
Eccl. 5:1-2 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
This verse harks back to what I said earlier. Journaling is not me just writing down all the things I want God to do for me, you know, the “honey do” list. The primary purpose of journaling is to write down what God is saying to you and me. So when you are quiet and listening, and you have a thought light upon your mind, write it down. Purpose to stay alone with God and fill up one page of thoughts that light upon your mind. Write it all down. Don’t engage in testing it at that time as I described earlier. When God is speaking we need to listen, not second guess everything He’s saying. Later on you can sit down with another Christian and the Word of God and determine what thoughts were God’s and which ones were just the ramblings of your mind.
During the next two weeks give this a try and see if God will not begin to share His heart with you. For those who are yearning to hear His voice this may be a major turning point.
[1] Lewis, C.S. “Mere Christianity”. MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., New York. Chapter 5, Book Two.
[2] http://www.walk-this-way.com/4_keys_virkler.htm
[3] http://bobhamp.com/portfolio/hearing-god/
In our second session we showed that although God cannot be detected by any of the physical methods of scientific investigation, He has nonetheless left His tracks all over our world and has imprinted His eternal attributes in our minds.
Rom. 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
And it is my observation that those who say that God does not make Himself known are not paying attention. It’s almost as if God is engaged in a game of “hide and seek.” It is a little like the peek-a-boo I engage in with my youngest granddaughter.
A year or so ago when our oldest granddaughter was younger, Sherlene played “hide and seek” with her. When Sherlene first introduced her to the game, she would hide and have Charlotte look for her. After a short time of being unsuccessful in finding Grandma, Charlotte would begin to cry in fear. In her mind Grandma was gone and she was all alone. She was so relieved when Grandma came out from hiding and was reunited with her. It took some time for her to understand what the game was all about and learn to squeal in delight when Grandma surprised her by popping out of her hiding place.
When we complain about God hiding Himself we are like Charlotte who was too unfamiliar with the game to appreciate the fun and joy of it all.
So, why does God play this game of “hide and seek” with us? I believe there are at least three reasons why he hides.
First of all, I believe it is because of His love of free will. C. S. Lewis in his book “Mere Christianity” says,
Why is God landing in this enemy-occupied world in disguise and starting a sort of secret society to undermine the devil? Why is He not landing in force, invading it? Is it that He is not strong enough? Well, Christians think He is going to land in force; we do not know when. But we can guess why He is delaying. He wants to give us the chance of joining His side freely. I do not suppose you and I would have thought much of a Frenchman who waited till the Allies were marching into Germany and then announced he was on our side. God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else – something it never entered your head to conceive – comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.[1]
Is Lewis right? Let’s take a look.
Exodus 20:18-21 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
This happened right after God spoke the Ten Commandments to them from Mount Sinai. The terror that filled their minds at this sight was nothing compared to the future event that C. S. Lewis describes. Yet the Israelites, at hearing God and seeing the spectacle of Mount Sinai trembling at His voice, really had no choice. Though they wavered in their belief later on, at that event they were all believers to the last man.
What I mean to say here is that if God revealed Himself to the extent that most of us desire, then all possibilities for making a choice are removed. God so cherishes this opportunity for us to love Him freely that He purposely hides Himself.
A little over a year ago we studied the secret purposes of God. As I mentioned in an earlier session, one of those purposes was to find a bride for His Son. What good is a bride who is forced against her will to marry someone. That’s slavery, not love! Love, real love, true love, demands choice. Even in countries where marriages are arranged, true love can never be arranged. If a bride or groom is forced into a marriage against their will, they are married, but they do not love each other. This is not to say that those couples cannot eventually love each other. But this only comes as a result of a choice on their part, not because their marriage was arranged.
The next reason I believe God hides is that you and I value what we seek. Jesus illustrated this in several of His parables. Let’s look at a few.
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=M02JCNNU
Matt. 13:44-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
Here we see that the prize these characters searched for was so valuable to them that they sold everything they had in order to obtain it.
One of the most highly priced materials in the world is gold. Why do we value it so highly? Because it is so hard to find. There is so little of it. All the gold that has ever been mined would fit into two Olympic-sized swimming pools. That’s not a lot of anything! As a result men sold everything they had, bought wagons and supplies, and headed for the wild west during the Gold Rush in California in the mid 1800s. They valued this because it was so hard to find.
How many of us box up a shovel of dirt, pack it down to the bank, and rent a safe deposit box for it? That’s ludicrous! Dirt is everywhere! I don’t have to look for it. Upon seeing one of those air pumps at a gas station that advertised, “Free Air,” my youngest son once exclaimed, “Free air!? I’m breathin’ it!” Why do people pay exorbitant amounts of money for bottled water? Because someone has advertised that it comes from some rare source in the Ozarks. We have accepted the illusion that this pristine water is hard to find.
Why would someone pay $117,000 for a bottle of 1811 Chateau d”Yquem wine? Because it is impossible to find. It is the rarest of the rare! It can never be produced again! When it’s gone, it’s gone.
We value what is hard to find. We prize that for which we must diligently seek. Isn’t there a Bible verse about that?
Deut. 4:29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
This verse follows strong warnings to the Israelites after they settled in the land of Canaan. Essentially God says here that if they take God for granted, fail to highly value Him, and treat God as something as common as dirt, that He will scatter them among the nations and will be hard to find after that. But He will be found if He is searched for diligently. In other words, once they come to understand the treasure that God is, then He can be found.
The third reason that God hides is really a bit of a misnomer. It is because we are not paying attention. How many of you can hear KLTY radio right now? You do understand that the radio signal from KLTY is passing through this room right now, right? The reason it is hidden to us is that we do not possess the ability to process the signal in a way that we can understand it. Our bodies do not possess the ability to transform the electromagnetic signal into sound waves so that our ears can hear it. Back in the 70s, the truckers using CB radios use to call out to another trucker by asking, “You got your ears on?”
God is talking. God is revealing Himself, but we’re not paying attention. We don’t have the wherewithal to hear Him or perceive His presence. Jesus addressed this issue all the time when He taught the crowds. What did He say? “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” He acknowledged that not everyone is paying attention.
So today, I’d like to provide you with some tools to help you tune into what God is saying. Many who complain about not hearing His voice have never learned to recognize it because we’re too busy talking at God rather than talking with Him. Prayer journals are typically a list of people for whom we are praying, or a list of prayer requests that we bring to God every day when we pray. Then we place a check mark when that prayer is answered with, perhaps, a date. Imagine what it would be like if you kept a similar journal of interactions with your best friend or your spouse. Of course husbands have to deal with this all the time. It’s called a “honey do” list.
I’ve done a lot of surfing on the Internet to find out how most modern day teachers explain how to hear God’s voice. There are several common themes that I want to share with you. If you struggle with hearing God’s voice I want you to practice these steps in the next two weeks, then come back and share what you heard God say with the rest of us.
Be Still
I know that if you are a type-A person, this will be very difficult. It seems like a waste of time. Task oriented people will see very little value in being quiet and still.
Psa. 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;”
But when we are not accustomed to hearing God’s voice we have to still the noise of the activity around us to be able to tune in to God’s frequency. How many of you saw the “For Sale” sign in the window of the shop in the “Music Box” video that we just played? It was a very key visual for understanding what happened. The clutter of sound and activity in the room made this fleeting scene hard to remember. If you did not know to look for it, you missed it.
This may take some time and concentration. In the beginning you may have to set a timer to make sure you are quiet for 4 or 5 minutes. As you practice, it will become natural. For those of you who love quiet, you’re already home free.
Listen
As I stated earlier, most of our prayer time is spent talking at God. If this is your experience then listening to what He will say does not come naturally. The Holy Spirit is gentlemanly and will not interrupt you. It is nearly impossible to talk and listen at the same time.
Hab. 2:1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, …
This verse expresses through the words of Habbakuk what I’m trying to say here. Keep watch! What does a watchman do? He looks and listens. If he is busy playing games on his cell phone or posting to Facebook, he cannot listen to what is going on around him.
Recognize His Voice
What does God’s voice sound like? Mark Virkler probably puts it more succinctly than anyone else. “God's voice in our hearts sounds like a flow of spontaneous thoughts. Therefore, when I tune to God, I tune to spontaneity.”[2] A lot of people have trouble with this statement. I have trouble with this statement. The reason is that those not accustomed to God’s voice will come up with all kinds of strange stuff. Some will even hear the voice of Satan. But that’s not a problem. Why do I say that? Because everything you hear must be checked out to see if it is from God. Here are the tests that you apply to what you hear.[3]
· Does it line up with Scripture and the nature of God as revealed in the Bible? God’s Word is the primary way that He speaks to us. If you aren’t reading Scripture and aligning your thoughts with the way God thinks (meditation), then you will come up with all kinds of strange malarkey that is totally at odds with God’s ways.
· Does it produce the fruit of the Spirit? How does it measure up against what is found in Galatians 5:22-23? But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
· Does it release you? Does it set you free? Not from the circumstances you are in, but from the power that those circumstances have over you? Does it fill you with vengeance and anger or set you free from those emotions?
So let’s look at an example. Here’s a young man who’s been married for seven years. He and his wife are becoming distant to each other now that they are both very involved in careers and building for the future. This man becomes attracted to another woman at work and is really torn. He feels distant from his wife and loves the way this young woman at work makes him feel. So he decides to take my advice above and hear God’s voice. The spontaneous thought that comes across his mind is that he should divorce his wife and pursue a relationship with this new woman. So what does Scripture say about this?
Malachi 2:15-16 So guard the spirit of marriage within you. Don't cheat on your spouse. "I hate divorce," says the God of Israel. God-of-the-Angel-Armies says, "I hate the violent dismembering of the 'one flesh' of marriage." So watch yourselves. Don't let your guard down. Don't cheat. (The Message)
Now, I’ve gone through a bunch of warnings here that sound really negative. I don’t want it to be that way because we really do need to listen to thoughts that light upon our minds so that we can begin to hear God’s voice.
Journaling
Eccl. 5:1-2 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
This verse harks back to what I said earlier. Journaling is not me just writing down all the things I want God to do for me, you know, the “honey do” list. The primary purpose of journaling is to write down what God is saying to you and me. So when you are quiet and listening, and you have a thought light upon your mind, write it down. Purpose to stay alone with God and fill up one page of thoughts that light upon your mind. Write it all down. Don’t engage in testing it at that time as I described earlier. When God is speaking we need to listen, not second guess everything He’s saying. Later on you can sit down with another Christian and the Word of God and determine what thoughts were God’s and which ones were just the ramblings of your mind.
During the next two weeks give this a try and see if God will not begin to share His heart with you. For those who are yearning to hear His voice this may be a major turning point.
[1] Lewis, C.S. “Mere Christianity”. MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., New York. Chapter 5, Book Two.
[2] http://www.walk-this-way.com/4_keys_virkler.htm
[3] http://bobhamp.com/portfolio/hearing-god/
