Let’s look at the youngest person God spoke to in the Bible – yes, Samuel.
In 1st Samuel 3, God called out to Samuel 3 times and each time, Samuel went to Eli. The first thing this tells me (us) is that God speaks to us in an “everyday” normal way. If this were not so, Samuel may have gone to ask Eli if he also heard something. 2ndly, God can speak to & through anyone (& even anything – remember Balaam and his donkey in Numbers 22: 22 - 34) – it has nothing to do with our physical or spiritual age.
Eventually, after Samuel had come to him the 3rd time, Eli who obviously used to have the privilege of hearing God got it & told Samuel it was the Lord speaking to him. He then guided him on how to respond and hear God. The lesson from this is – never assume that those who are older Christians still hear God. Yes, the young prophet in 1 Kings 13…assumed that to his death. We’ll dig into that story later.
In Numbers 22: 22- 34, King Balak invited Balaam to come and curse the Israelites. God did not want him to go and possibly “told” him not to. I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing that Balaam felt he was being invited for an important opportunity to “show God off” and felt obliged to go. Well, he set on his way until his donkey hurt him and then spoke up. Just a reiteration that: God can speak to & through anyone (& even anything). If we desire to look, listen and learn, you will “hear” God in everything around you – learn to turn down the noise around you and tune in to God’s voice.
1 Kings 13 makes interesting and enlightening reading. It starts off with a young prophet who was instructed by God to go to another city and speak His word against the king. Now, in the same city lived an old prophet who probably no longer heard from God so God had to “import” a voice.
The young prophet obeyed God to the letter until the old prophet approached him. In a bid to be “respectful”, the young prophet deferred to the old prophet. Note that the old prophet said an angel spoke to him whereas the young prophet heard directly from God and yet he decided to “obey” the angel and disobey God. While the young prophet was eating, the old prophet arose to reconfirm what God had spoken to the young prophet. It is especially sad that after the young prophet died, the old prophet was the one who told others what had happened. I like how The Message puts it: When the prophet who had gotten him off track heard it, he said, "It's the holy man who disobeyed GOD's strict orders. GOD turned him over to the lion who knocked him around and killed him, just as GOD had told him." (1 Kings 13:26)
If you were faced with the same circumstance, what would you do? Are you able to respectfully stand up to those who are older than you (spiritually & physically) in a bid to obey God? Remember point 3 above: never assume that those who are older Christians still hear God. To add to that, never assume that the older Christians who still hear God are "accurate" all the time. This is not to ask us to disrespect those who are older than or above us - please don't. What you shoudl do is: when you hear God…stick to what He has said.
Another lesson here is: God is neither a talkative nor the author of confusion* – He does not say conflicting things to people. He is consistent in whatever He says which is why He tells us that at the mouth of 2 or 3, every word is established.* Sometimes when I feel that God is speaking to me about me, my husband or even my family as a whole, I ask Him to also reveal the same thing to my husband. That way, when I tell him what God said he confirms that God laid the same thing in his heart. At other times, when he tells me that God asked him to do something, I simply assent because God sometimes tells me too or I "feel" peaceful about that instruction/direction.
Another example is Elijah in the mountain: In 1 Kings 19:11 – 13, it seems to me that God was trying to tell us that He is rarely in the noise around us. After the earthquake and fire, God spoke to Elijah in a still small voice.
In summary:
- God speaks to us in an “everyday” normal way
- God can speak to & through anyone (& even anything) – it has nothing to do with our physical or spiritual age.
- Never assume that those who are older Christians still hear God or hear him accurately
- God is neither a talkative nor the author of confusion – He does not say conflicting things to people.
- God is rarely in the noise around us
The point here is that: God can (& does) speak to you. It’s up us to discover how God speaks to each of us.
There are so many voices around...the litmus test is to check them against the word of God. Jesus advised us to:
Take heed what you hear** and take heed how you hear.*** The more you hear...the more you'll hear.
Reference:
*1 Corinthians 14:33
**Mark 4:24 Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.” (NKJV)
*** Luke 8:18: “Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” (NKJV)
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