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"We proclaim
Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so
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Shh! I'm Trying to Hear God!(Part 3)Moses was out tending his sheep in the wilderness, minding his own business when he began to feel like the Lord was trying to tell him something. So he prayed about it and said, “Lord, if you don’t want me to tend sheep, then I need a sign. Show me something clear.” The next day as Moses was tending his sheep one of the sheep fell off a cliff and died. “That is the sign!” Moses thought. So he prayed again, “Lord, I have this feeling that you want me to do something for You instead of tending sheep. If that is true, would you please confirm it in some way?” That night, Moses went to sleep and had a dream in which that same lamb was alive and bit Moses. “That must be God’s confirmation!” Moses exclaimed. “That sheep turned on me in the dream. God must not want me to shepherd sheep anymore.” Later that week, Moses began to daydream about his days in Egypt. Suddenly it occurred to him: that was the Lord telling him to go to Egypt! Moses prayed, “Lord, if you want me to go to Egypt, if these thoughts of going back are from You then give me a peace about it.” After three days Moses was out in the desert tending sheep when a caravan came through. Moses found out that they were Egyptian merchants on their way back to Egypt. Surely this was the sign. Moses went home that night and told Jethro that he was no longer going to tend sheep. He was headed to Egypt. Moses explained how he felt led to go to Egypt, the signs that God had given him to confirm that leading, and he had prayed about it and had a peace.” Does that Sound Right?Is that how Exodus 3 reads? Is that how Moses was told by God to leave Midian and return to Egypt as the great deliverer of God’s people? Do you laugh at such a scenario? You should. For 1800 years of church history, such an approach to divine direction would have been rejected as superstitious nonsense. Yet countless Christians would respond with, “Well, that’s not how God led Moses, but that is how God leads me.” Really? In all of the cases of direct divine guidance given in Scripture, can you name a single instance when such a scenario was played out? Moses, Elijah, David, Solomon, Paul, Samson, Samuel? Further, are we ever told to read “signs” and seek “confirmations” or to pray about something and “get a peace about it” or to make decisions based on a “check in the spirit?” We are never in Scripture instructed to get divine guidance by these means, nor do we see any examples of such a thing happening. Back to Sola ScripturaLast month1 we dealt with the fundamental assertion that Scripture is sufficient for all of life and godliness. Knowing that, any teaching that directs God’s people to listen somewhere else for God should be cause for great alarm. The fact is that whenever there are two sources of God speaking, whether it is the teaching magisterial of the Church (Roman Catholicism), a modern prophet (Mary Baker Eddy of Seventh Day Adventism or Joseph Smith of the Mormons) or a private word from God spoken to your heart and mind, the Bible always takes the back seat. That is why the historic Christian faith has always affirmed the doctrine of Scripture alone! God speaks in His Word! So we must turn to the Word of God. It is not enough to simply say that the Bible does not tell us to look elsewhere for guidance. We must ask, “What does Scripture teach about how God gives guidance?” Divine Guidance in ActsLet’s focus for just a moment on the New Testament examples of God speaking to people and giving direction. For this, we must turn to the book of Acts. The book of Acts covers a time period of 30 years in which we find a high concentration of supernatural manifestations. If we are to find examples of God leading through promptings, nudgings, feelings, or signs, we would find it in Acts. If we are expecting to build a case for Christians receiving divine directions and personal assignments from God by subjective personal revelations, we should be able to build that case from the book of Acts. What do we find? You can read through the book for yourself and you will find fourteen instances where people received special directives from God. 1. An angel rescues the apostles from prison and tells them to preach the Gospel (5:19-20). 2. Philip is sent to the Gaza road by an angel (8:26). 3. Philip is directed to the Ethiopian eunuch by the Spirit (8:29). 4. While traveling on the Damascus road, Saul hears the audible voice of Jesus directing him to Damascus (9:4-6). 5. Ananias has a vision in which the Lord instructs him to visit Saul (9:10-16). 6. Cornelius is instructed by an angel in a vision to send for Peter (10:3-6). 7. Peter is instructed by the Spirit to visit Cornelius (10:19-20). 8. Peter is ordered by an angel to follow him out of prison (12:7-8). 9. Paul and Barnabas are sent out by the Holy Spirit on their first missionary journey (13:2). 10. The Holy Spirit forbids Paul to speak the word in Asia (16:6-7). 11. Paul is directed through a vision to Macedonia (16:9-10). 12. Jesus appears to Paul in a vision and tells him to preach the Gospel in Corinth (18:9-10). 13. Paul is told through prophecy not to enter Jerusalem (21:4). 14. Jesus tells Paul in a vision to leave Jerusalem (22:18, 21).2 Fourteen events over 30 years, that is one every other year (averaged). That seems like a lot until we consider the aggressive spiritual nature of the book of Acts. From the time of Pentecost, during the lifetime of the Apostles, we have only fourteen instances of direct divine guidance. Only fourteen. Yet Christians today talk as if God is giving them direction on a day by day basis. They use phrases like, “The Lord revealed that I was to go meet with so and so, ” “The Lord told me to talk to you, ” and, “The Lord told me that I needed to tell you. . . . “ Let’s break this list down a little bit and make some more observations. In the majority of these instances (5), the direction comes through a vision. In three instances, the message is received from an angel. Four separate times it is the Spirit that speaks. One is a prophecy and one is the voice of Jesus. There are five other instances where revelations were given, but they were predictive in nature, not directives. In other words, no assignments were given.3 Further, we can observe that six of the fourteen instances had to do with the worldwide expansion of the gospel message from Jews to Gentiles. That is significant. Two of those six had to do with the conversion of Saul of Tarsus and his commission as the Apostle to the Gentiles. Two of the six had to do with the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch (by which the Gospel went to Africa) and two had to do with the conversion of Cornelius (a Gentile). Two of the fourteen instances of divine direction pertained to prison breaks and two pertained to Paul’s stay in Jerusalem. The remaining four had to do with Paul’s missionary journeys. What is Mysteriously Missing?You should notice that something is missing. In fact, this should shout to us! First, missing from the biblical record is any mention of God giving guidance or direction or speaking to people through “nudgings,” “promptings,” “signs,” or some “inner sensing.” It is not there! I don’t know how else to say it! All that divine direction, God speaking and giving special assignments and yet we read nothing of promptings, confirmations, or internal subjective nudgings of the Spirit. There is not a single record of God giving a direction or knowledge of His will through some subjective “sensing.” It is not there! Second, there is no indication anywhere in Acts that Christians, including the apostles, ever “waited” on God for direction. We don’t read of them praying and waiting to hear an answer from God. We don’t read of them pleading with God to show His will or give them an assignment.4 Third, we never hear the apostles ever say, “I felt led to . . .,” “I believe the Lord is directing me to. . . , “ “I am sensing that the Lord wants me to . . . ,“ “God gave me a sign and I believe He wants me to . . . ,” or “I have prayed about this decision and I have a peace about it.” It is not there! You might say, “Ah, Jim. You are arguing from silence. Just because it is not there doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.” True. But the fact that it is not there should not cause us to assume it did happen and then teach it as a biblical practice. The burden of proof rests on the person who says that God speaks to us through some inner prompting, some still small voice. If you can’t build the case for that from Acts, why should I assume such a notion has any validity at all? If God does indeed communicate to us through promptings, then I can think of nothing more pivotal, more vital and more essential than being able to hear what God says. I can think of no greater discipline in all of the Christian life than that discipline of knowing the mind of Christ. Yet the Epistles are silent about this notion of hearing God speak in our thoughts and feelings. We don’t find it taught anywhere! Nowhere does Paul or Peter talk about how to hear God’s voice. Nowhere do they detail for us how to receive subjective private revelations from God. A Different Type of Divine GuidanceIf you tell someone in a gathering of Christians, “I feel that the Lord is telling me to do . . . ,” or, “The Lord just told me I was supposed to go encourage Mr. Smith,” nobody will bat an eye. It is almost assumed to be a cardinal doctrine of the faith that if we have a desire, or a thought or an inclination, it must be from God. So we assign the authority of divine fiat to our stray thoughts, and Christians don’t think anything of it. Yet, begin to tell people that an angel appeared to you while you were cooking dinner and told you to call John Smith to encourage him and their reaction will be quite different. Tell people that Christ Himself appeared to you and gave you some directives and suddenly Christians will step back from you a couple paces. Tell someone that you had a vision in which the risen Christ gave you instructions and you are liable to land yourself in an institution. Yet these were the means of God’s direct divine guidance in the book of Acts. Tell me, what reason do I have to believe that if God is going to give me personal direction (apart from Scripture) that it should come in any form other than the ones in which God has been seen to operate? There is abundant Biblical precedent for supernatural communications and no precedents for nudgings, promptings, or the sensing of God’s will through my feelings or thoughts. Does that mean that I should be expecting some supernatural communication from God via a vision or an appearance of Christ or an angel? Let me answer that with a question: Do the Scriptures tell you that you should expect such things? Where are you ever told in Scripture that such communications are the lot of every believer? Where are you ever told in Scripture that you ought to be anticipating such supernatural divine manifestations? Is Scripture not enough for you? Are you somehow so important in the worldwide scheme of the gospel message that you have to be individually directed by God? What makes you think you are on par with Peter, Paul, Philip or Moses? Is it not enough that God has given you the inspired, pure, holy, and all sufficient Word? What Does it Look Like?When God gave divine directives in Scripture they always had four qualities.5 First, when God gave direct divine guidance in Scripture it was rare. Even in the book of Acts, we do not get the impression that these things were common place. We only have fourteen instances from the time of Pentecost. Only one of Paul’s three missionary journeys was directly commissioned by God. We have no justification for taking a handful of instances and making them the model. We cannot take irregular and exceptional events and expect them to represent the norm. Second, when God gave direct divine guidance in Scripture it was an intrusion. It was not expected or sought after. You can read the instances in the book of Acts and you will not find the recipients of such guidance seeking the guidance. God surprised them with it. They were going about their regular daily activities when suddenly the Lord interrupts them. Third, when God gave direct divine guidance in Scripture it was supernatural. Visions, visitations, voices, prophecies, angels were the vehicles, not nudging, promptings, thoughts, or coincidental signs. Fourth, when God gave direct divine guidance in Scripture it was clear. It didn’t need to be interpreted. God makes it clear because He expects it to be obeyed. He does not need to speak to us through signs and symbols, or whispers and stray thoughts that we are supposed to decipher in order to know the will of God. When God speaks, He speaks clearly in order that the order or directive be obeyed. There was never any doubt! They didn’t have to wonder if this was or Satan speaking, the Spirit or the flesh, the Lord or that burrito they had for lunch. Paul didn’t get up from the road outside of Damascus and say, “You know, I sense that the Lord wants me to be an apostle and stop persecuting Christians. I think that that is what the Lord is telling me, but I’m going to have to pray about it and see if I get a peace about that decision.” It was clear. God in a BoxI know the objection that some will raise: I am putting God in a box! That is not true. I am not putting God in a box. I am not saying what God cannot do. God is free to act in any way He chooses. He can communicate to his servants by any means He wants. The question is not what God can or cannot do, but what does Scripture teach about what I can expect God to do? God can communicate to me through a leprechaun in my refrigerator if He wants, but I have no biblical basis to expect such a thing. God could make the snowman in my yard speak to me, but I have no biblical reason to expect that He will. God could deliver messages to me through a voice from my neighbor’s horse, but that doesn’t mean that I should be hanging around the horse. Nor can I teach God’s people that such a thing happens. We must base our belief and practice on what Scripture teaches, not on what might be possible for a sovereign God to do. God has told us how He operates and how He communicates to us. He hasn’t mentioned anything about nudgings, promptings, or mystical leadings. He hasn’t left us any example in Scripture of such a thing. To point that out is not to put God in a box. It is to teach what God has revealed about these matters. God in a box? On the contrary, the person who puts God in a box is the person who thinks that God cannot be “real” or “personal” to them unless they are receiving private, direct, and subjective messages from Him through the Spirit. If this practice of hearing the voice of God in our thoughts and feelings is not taught in Scripture or modeled in Scripture then we have no justification for believing that this is indeed a legitimate biblical practice. Without wax -
Jim
Osman Footnotes: 1. You can read previous articles posted on our archives page. This article was originally going to be part 4. However I felt it would be more profitable to look at what Scripture actually tells us about divine guidance before dealing with some of the specific practices which are so popular today. 2. See also Divine Direction and Decision Making in the Book of Acts by Greg Koukl. 3. For these five instances see Acts 11:27-30, 20:23, 21:11, 23:11, and 27:22-26. 4. See also Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God—A Critique by Greg Koukl. 5. This summary of divine guidance in Scripture is taken from Decision Making and the Will of God by Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason Ministries.
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