Month: September 2023

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Obstacles to Hearing God

“For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.”—Job 33:14

A few years ago, I underwent some medical diagnostics, which included a hearing evaluation. Speech reception thresholds were where they should be, word recognition was “excellent,” and sensorineural hearing loss tested within normal limits, albeit with one notable exception: I had experienced “mild” loss in two of the measured sound frequencies. It just so happens that these two outliers were higher-pitched frequencies, specifically those common to female voices, so this mild hearing loss has occasionally served me as a credible (and convenient) defense. (“Honest, honey, I didn’t hear you.”)

God speaks in many ways, and over time His people have heard Him through each of them. This is not to suggest we hear God whenever He has something to say; perhaps most often when God “speaks in one way, and in two,” we do not “perceive it.” Why is this? How can we possibly miss the authoritative Voice that spoke creation into being and us into His image? What forces divert our attention, and which noises clutter our thoughts in confusion?

There are several obstacles to hearing God, and it is crucial that we recognize them as they confront us. Our “flesh”—that part of us that is prone to sin and opposed to God—has its worldly cravings, and these “desires of the flesh are against the Spirit.”1 So, tuning out all desires but our own comes naturally to us, and conversely, we are susceptible to ascribing our self-serving thoughts as being God’s will. These temptations are deliberate, for spiritual warfare is real, and Satan, our adversary, is an active schemer2 who will do anything to deceive us,3 even if it means disguising himself as “an angel of light.”4 He would confuse us, in his cunning, and lead our thoughts astray.5 Then there is outright rebellion against God and the brazen refusal to hear Him. God grieves through the prophet Jeremiah: “I spoke to you, speaking again and again, but you did not listen, and I called you but you did not answer.”6

Yet there is no obstacle that can prevail against God. “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world,”7 assured Jesus mere hours before His arrest. Born of God through faith in Christ, we, too, are overcomers.8 His Spirit lives in us in truth and works through us in power. Then like our forebears in the faith, may this be our resolve: “We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”9

Obstacles confront us; watch for them. Truth is on our side; listen for Him.

“Speak, for Your servant is listening.”—1 Samuel 3:10 NASB

Father, draw us near to You, that we would know Your voice, hear Your voice, trust Your voice, and obey Your voice. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Galatians 5:17
2 Ephesians 6:11
3 2 Corinthians 11:3
4 2 Corinthians 11:14
5 2 Corinthians 11:3
6 Jeremiah 7:13 NASB
7 John 16:33
8 1 John 5:4
9 2 Corinthians 10:5 RSV

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More than a Watchword

One of Peggy’s and my joys in life is developing friendships with internationals who come to the United States to pursue their education. They have taught us much about their countries and cultures, and to some degree we have helped them navigate our own. In relaxed conversation one evening, a young woman from China recalled arriving in the U.S. for the first time. “We [Chinese students] begin to learn English as children and study it throughout our school years,” she began. “I thought I knew the language well, but when I arrived here and stepped into the airport, I couldn’t understand anything. For my first three months here, it was a wall of noise.” (What a great metaphor!)

We long to hear God; we strain to hear His voice. At times, however, other voices overwhelm us, distracting us from hearing God or dissuading us from trusting Him. For the Bible teaches us we have an enemy; his name is Satan. Jesus says this evil one “does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When the devil lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”1 This is who our enemy is, and lies are the obscenities he shouts from the wall of noise.

Satan deceives us in many ways, such as misapplying Scripture. Tempting Jesus to prove His deity by throwing Himself down from the temple high point, Satan “assured” Him through Psalm 91, saying, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’” and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”2 Conveniently omitted, however, was the prior verse in the psalm—the premise to the promise: “Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place. . .”3 In faith and obedience, Jesus did take refuge in the Lord, His dwelling place, and, though tempted as we are, He overcame the devil’s scheme and remained without sin.4

How do we read Scripture rightly? Probably the most effective means is through a lifetime practice of this timeless wisdom from the twentieth century German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “There can be . . . little doubt that brief verses cannot and should not take the place of reading the Scripture as a whole. . . Holy Scripture is more than a watchword. It is also more than “light for today.” It is God’s revealed Word for all men, for all times. Holy Scripture does not consist of individual passages; it is a unit and is intended to be used as such.”5 More Word, more clarity. Less noise; more peace.

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”6—Peter, to Jesus

Father, Your Word is life itself. Inspire us to consume it and understand it, living by every word that comes forth from Your mouth. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 John 8:44
2 Matthew 4:6
3 Psalm 91:9
4 Hebrews 4:15
5 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, trans. John W. Doberstein, (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1954) 50–51
6 John 6:68

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Apocalyptic Joy

Some of our executives were invited as guests to an evening concert by the Kirov Orchestra. Predictably, they featured selections from Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky, Russian masters whose musical style featured tension between disquieting discordance and soothing harmony, the blaring blasts of the former ultimately giving way to the melodious measures of the latter. At intermission, I quipped to a colleague, “This is the music of a cold climate.” He chuckled and replied, “That’s true. You don’t hear a lot of dissonance in the [Caribbeans], do you?”

By way of “the Revelation,” the apostle John witnessed things yet to come, and by command, he wrote them down. We tend to think of this “apocalypse”1 in dissonant terms of natural catastrophes, spiritual warfare, and divine judgment, and rightly so, for these will come. Yet like the symphonic masterpieces we enjoyed in the theater that evening, this apocalyptic discord ultimately resolves into apocalyptic peace, joy, and worship from a diverse people unified in Christ. John writes:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”2

On Friday evenings, Peggy and I are privileged to a preview of this vision, for gathered in our family room for an International Friendships (IFI) Bible study is a symphony of sorts, young men and women from Rwanda, Korea, China, Taiwan, Ghana, Nigeria, Bolivia, Cameroon, Uganda, Philippines, and the US. In the past (and likely the future), there have been students from Argentina, India, Chile, Iran, Iraq, Guinea-Bissau, Congo, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and other countries that do not immediately come to mind. We eat together, sing together, and delve into the Word, many as believers in Christ and others still seeking.

I find it fascinating this global church has emerged through a command obeyed—“Go . . . and make disciples of all nations”3—and a promise kept: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses . . . to the end of the earth.”4 After speaking these things, Jesus left, He ascended. Yet two thousand years later, His Kingdom continues its global march, its alluring melody calming discordant hearts of all generations and cultures. Then taking confidence from promises kept, may we work toward the vision that awaits—a harmonious multitude from all nations, tribes, peoples, and languages.

Father, You reveal an eternity of shared gladness and joy in Christ. May Your vision of unity and peace in Your Kingdom stir us to share Your power, love and truth here on Earth. In Christ, we pray. Amen.

1 “Apocalypse” is the English word for “apokálypsis,” a Greek word meaning “revelation.”
2 Revelation 7:9-10
3 Matthew 28:19
4 Acts 1:8