Have you heard from God lately?

Have you heard from God lately?

Have you heard from God lately? Have you even listened? What is He saying to you? Nothing – something – anything? What does He sound like?

There is a story told in 1 Kings 19:11-13

Elijah was told to “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing.  When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” There was a lot of noise but it was only in the quiet that God spoke to Elijah.

I love this story. There is poor old Elijah, hiding from Jezebel, afeared for his life, and God comes to him. Elijah must have been so relieved to know the presence and protection of God. Then God shows up to talk to him. Hey, things are getting better. God asks Elijah, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Imagine – there you are, just killed all of the king’s false prophets; the queen after your blood; and God asks what you are doing there. Elijah, being very human, protests and points out his problems. What does God do? He ignores Elijah’s protests and sends him on an errand. Not any old errand though – oh no. This was an errand to anoint two men as kings over their respective countries and, as if this were not enough, Elijah was told to anoint Elisha as his own successor as prophet to Israel. That must have been hard on Elijah?

Don’t you wish you could talk with God like this though? In Old Testament times it was always like this. God spoke; the prophets heard clearly; people obeyed or not as they would. But the conversation was always so clear – so precise. Yet, many people today don’t even know how God speaks, and even though they hear Him quite a bit, there is no realisation that it is God speaking to them. Oddly enough, I hear from God most clearly, or at least most easily, when I am at my keyboard writing. I also hear Him when I sense a ‘nudge’ in my spirit. I pray I may hear Him as well as a friend of mine does – with amazing clarity.

Hearing from God is not difficult but we need to learn to listen and to discern His voice among the many. God always has something to say to you. Why wouldn’t He? After all, He wants a relationship with each of us and any relationship thrives on two-way communication. I think the Lord must grow a little weary of all our prayers being one-way lists of requests. He really does want to talk with us – that’s what makes a conversation. Learn to listen to God and He will teach you all sorts of things.

A very important point is that you can always test what you think you hear. If it does not line up with the Word of God then it is not from God. Simple as that.

So then – when was the last time you listened long enough to actually hear from God ??