Have you heard the voice of God?

I am currently learning a generic principle about the ministry. People love to ask questions about theology, doctrine, life in general, etc… and I absolutely love it. I think questions are an avenue by which we grow, expand, and sharpen our minds. This is why at RFBC, I dedicate the first ten minutes of each student service to answering literally any question that presses upon the minds of our students. In three months, as you might imagine, I have received a hodgepodge of questions ranging from sarcasm to goofy to innovative to incredibly thought-provoking. There is only one rule during question time: There is no such thing as a ‘bad’ question. Several weeks ago a question was asked that really provoked additional thoughts in my mind, “Have you heard the voice of God?” My initial thought was, “this kid really likes my preaching!” As the days pressed on the question continued to press on me with deeper and deeper intensity. Here’s why I was troubled. We live in a world where people consider “hearing from God” a rare or uncanny thing. Now for you ultra-conservative super religious folk take a deep breath, I’m not saying that I hear an audible voice from God. In fact, I will readily admit to you that I have never heard an audible voice from God. And that’s because God doesn’t need to speak to me in an audible voice like He did to Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah. God doesn’t need to speak to me in audible words because He has spoken everything I need to hear from Him in written words all contained in that nicely bound leather book we refer to as the Bible. The thought reminds me of a sermon delivered by Dr. Crawford Lorittis I listened to recently. He echoed a memory where a young woman approached him in his office with all types of issues going on in her life. She was discouraged, frustrated, and incredibly anxious. Her unwavering plea to the old pastor was, “I just wish God would speak to me and tell me what to do!” To which the clever old pastor pushed a old worn-out Bible towards her and calmly replied, “Well go ahead, open it up.” I am under the assumption that a great many of people resemble the perplexed woman. A great number of troubled people scratch their heads in frustration half-expecting a pastor to call them up and give them the answer of all answers to their problems. Friend, if you want to hear God speak then open up that Bible and become a creature of the Word. Don’t be lazy either, but labor in The Word. Don’t skim it and turn to a John MacArthur Bible commentary for an explanation. Open up your Bible, get alone with the Word of God and open your ears. The Holy Spirit speaking through the Holy Word of God will speak to the questions of your heart, and it will radically transform your life. The Word is living and is active, it is life-changing if you will only read it.