As we go through life in this world, it is hard to deny the chaos that surrounds us. As Christians, we understand that the world is under the control of the Enemy (1 John 5:19) and that everything is in a constant state of steal, kill, and destroy. When we see things in the world that create harm or frustration, our perspective is often to ask God to stop the chaos. Sometimes, we may even add how we would like God to do it. But God doesn’t operate that way. God’s plan for the church and for the abundant life He offers us isn’t to transform the physical world and get rid of the chaos. He will, eventually, do that, but only at the very end, when God creates the new heaven and new earth. In the meantime, His restoration is meant for us in our personal lives, and it looks much different than we often would like. As Christians, we ought not be surprised when difficult things happen to us, to our country, or to the world. Our hope is not in political solutions or the transformation of a nation, government, or culture. Instead, as you are in chaos, God will show you how He is going to bring order. This involves walking in His Kingdom, which is superior to the natural world (John 16:33). When you abide with Him, He will give you order and beauty in your personal life, despite all that is going on in the world.
The question is: How do I find that sweet spot of living in peace, joy, and security in the midst of chaos? We’re here to encourage you that God has answers for your life’s issues, and there is a way for you to learn what those answers are! So how do we find them? Let’s dive in…
His sheep hear His voice.
John 10:3-5, 27
3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
These verses tell us some fundamental things about the relationship between the sheep and the Shepherd. Firstly, they demonstrate the Shepherd’s heart. Jesus is our shepherd, and He cares about us. He wants to lead and guide us. He knows your name and who you are individually. Secondly, these scriptures tell us that if we have a heart to abide with Him, we, as sheep, will hear His voice. This is a simple truth for us as believers. His sheep can hear His voice.
Hold on—is that possible? This concept can often be foreign to us as modern-day Christians. The idea of hearing the voice of God seems a little out there, or maybe even off-base. What does it mean to hear the voice of God? These scriptures say that, as believers, we hear God’s voice. This is not limited to the ultra-spiritual—all God’s children hear His voice! This may take some learning and some new understanding on the ways in which God relates to us, but, if you are a believer, you can and will hear God’s voice.
So, how do we learn to hear God’s voice? Hearing God’s voice comes from spending time with Him. As you spend time with Him, you learn to recognize His voice above all the noise. If you are a parent, you know that you can recognize your child’s voice in a crowd. This is because you spend so much time with them and you’ve learned their character, nuances, and tone. Recognizing God’s voice works the same way. One thing that you can always use as verification is considering whether what you have heard aligns with scripture. If you’ve heard from God, it will always be 100% in line with His Word.
If we can hear God’s voice, this means that God is speaking to us. This may sound obvious, but it is an important thing to recognize. He is constantly speaking to us. The issue is whether or not we are paying attention. You may need to learn how to listen and discern, and this may involve some wrestling. But God invites the wrestling. He won’t condemn you for it, but will guide you and teach you how to hear Him. Allow Him to work in you and show you what He is speaking to you.
How do we know that it’s God speaking?
You may be thinking: well, I’d love to hear from God, and sometimes I think that I do, but how do I know whether I’m truly hearing from God? I can’t differentiate between what God is speaking and my own thoughts.
God says the answer to this question is spending time with Him. His sheep know His voice because they spend time with Him. Furthermore, His sheep don’t respond to strangers. They know when it is Him speaking because they’ve spent time with Him and they know what His voice sounds like. They know the difference between their Shepherd and a stranger.
Do you know the difference? The answer, for many of us, is “no”, and the reason for that is most often because we’re not spending time with Him and learning the ways in which He speaks to us. The way you hear from God will be unique to you, and it can only be learned through consistent seeking and listening.
It is also important to remember that when God speaks to you, it will never be contradictory to His written Word—the Bible. Furthermore, reading God’s word gives Him vocabulary to speak to you. The more you read His word, the more vocabulary you are giving Him to speak. When you’ve spent time in the Word, studying and ruminating on the truths He gives to you, He will use His Word to deliver truth to you in difficult situations. When you are struggling and a verse comes to mind, that’s a no brainer—that’s God’s word!
Does God ever stop speaking to us?
Another question many of us wonder about is whether God ever stops speaking to us. You may be going through a season where you are not hearing from God, and in these situations we often start to believe that God has stopped speaking—that we are going through a time of silence.
The fundamental truth is that God never stops speaking to us. The evidence we have for this is found in the life of Christ.
John 8:28
So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.
Jesus said He did nothing except for what the Father told Him to do. He didn’t function on His own, but was constantly in conversation with the Father. You may be thinking: “Yeah, but I’m not Jesus!” That is true, and you will go through times in your life when you do not hear from God. But Jesus’ life was a model for how we are supposed to live, and the important thing to recognize when we are not hearing from God, is that it is not because He is not speaking. He offers us constant communication with Him—as He did with Christ. Think about it from a parent’s perspective. If you are a parent, how do you treat your children? If your children are in relationship with you, are you going to say, “today I’m not going to talk to you”? Of course not! God is always speaking to us and giving us the opportunity to be in relationship with Him
So then, if you’re not hearing His voice, what’s the issue? The issue is always on our side, not His. There’s never a time that He’s not speaking, but there is a requirement on our end to hear what He is saying. The requirement: do you have a heart to hear it?
Galatians 5:1-4
1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
These verses tell us that sin has the ability to separate us from God and from God’s ability to restore us. This includes hearing from Him! Sin isn’t the things that you do; rather, it is doing those things out of the flesh. In other words, it is choosing to operate on your own and walk away from God and what God has for you. When you do this, you also walk away from His ability to communicate to you—you stop listening. He is still speaking, constantly saying “Come on back.”
So, in answer to the question, there is no dry time, or silent time, when God is not speaking to you. He always has something to say, and He’ll speak to you if you have a heart to hear it. If it appears that you are not hearing from Him, the problem is not with God, it is with you. Are you listening? Are you abiding with Him? For God to speak to you, you need to be with Him—in other words, connected to the vine, or abiding! His sheep WILL hear His voice, and they will hear it all the time. The key? You have to be where He is.
Escaping the dry season.
Okay, but what if you’re currently in a dry season? What if you really are experiencing silence? It may feel like you’re getting nowhere. You’re praying, but nothing is happening. You’re not getting any input from God, any direction, any reassurance. You may attribute that to God’s silence. When we do this, it is easy to then fall into walking on our own. If God isn’t directing, I guess I should just do it on my own. But when you go and make your own decisions, you only end up walking further from God. If you feel like God is silent right now, or that you are in a “dry season” that you can’t escape, you are believing a lie of the Enemy. When you are confronted with a lie, you need to capture scriptural truth to combat it with. Post it on your wall, on your mirror, or wherever you need to put it, so that anytime the Enemy comes at you with that lie, you have the truth to deflect it. The simplicity of our relationship with God, is that we just need to be with Him, and He will do the work. He desires for you to be with Him in His Kingdom. In His Kingdom, He is the vinedresser. In order to be there with Him, you need to surrender to His guidance and walk with a heart to hear what He has to say.
Handling the guilt of walking away from God:
It is easy for us to find ourselves living in the flesh and walking our own way, unable to hear from God. When we realize this is our own fault, we immediately go to guilt. But God has not condemned us.
Romans 8:1-2
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Are you willing to forget the things that lay behind and press on to the high calling of Christ? There is now no condemnation in Him. God’s solution is now forward. It may take a while, but you can be released from your guilt. In order to release and restore you, though, God needs your energy to be focused on hearing His voice and walking forward into His solution. Don’t keep looking backwards. Don’t keep returning to what you did. God needs to release you from that, because life in Him is now forward, and He can restore it all, because there is no condemnation. Forget the things that lie behind, and God will resolve all of it. Even if your specific problem or situation doesn’t get resolved in the way you would like it to, God will restore you, and He will restore your life back into the beautiful one He has for you. God restores, and His restoration is better than any we might desire for ourselves.
Hearing God’s voice has just one requirement.
All of God’s sheep hear His voice. But in order to hear His voice, they have to be with Him. If you choose to walk away, you will experience silence. If you abide with Him, He will speak to you all the time!
If you would like to learn more about abiding in Christ so that you can experience His daily love and guidance, check out our course on Abiding in the Vine, available at https://abideministries.com/abide-courses/. And if you have any questions about hearing from God or any other aspect of your life with Christ, please don’t hesitate to reach out! We’d love to hear from you. You can contact us at https://abideministries.com/contact-us/
