Do you want to hear from God? ..

Communicating with God is one of the most thrilling experiences one can have. Communication has two aspects: talking and listening. Well, we all talk to God when we pray to Him. We firmly believe that our God listens to all our prayers. But the most difficult part of this communication is listening to what God wants to say.

Imagine how our lives would be if we could hear God’s audible voice. Perhaps it would answer all our questions, or we would find ourselves getting scolded by God every now and then. “You brood of vipers,” “Oh, you of little faith,” “you hypocrites” must be some frequent dialogues that we would hear from God. Let’s consider some of the things that would happen when God talks to us.

God’s message that we may not understand.  

God communicates with us through dreams, visions, prophets, preachers, and the Bible, among other means. However, the most difficult challenge we may face is understanding what God wants to convey with the messages He sends. Deciphering this message may require special grace.

The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the Lord was upon him. Ezekiel 1:3

In this verse, we see Ezekiel being called by God for the first time. He saw some great visions. Ezekiel saw some angels of God, which he exclaimed to be some sort of creatures. He had no idea what it was all about. But the fact is, God talked to him in a vision.

Sometimes when God calls or talks to us, we may not understand all that is told to us. Nicodemus wanted to hear from Jesus. He risked his reputation and came at night, but he didn’t understand what Jesus told him. For three years, disciples of Jesus heard from him, yet they did not fully grasp the message Jesus wanted to convey. They were unable to understand the parables Jesus told them. Maybe during their first year with Jesus, they dared to ask, but later they were afraid to ask him.

Daniel was a man known to decipher great visions and dreams. He was the chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. But even he couldn’t understand the visions God showed him. The angel responded to Daniel when asked about the meaning of all these visions: “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.”

Sometimes, we may not understand what God wants to tell us. But as Joseph says, ‘interpretation belongs to God.‘ Perhaps the message God tells us will be interpreted by someone else. Jeremiah prophesied many things, yet no one took his words seriously. But there was a Daniel who understood the words Jeremiah spoke and prayed for the deliverance of his people. Hence, God’s message may not always be crystal clear to us.

God’s message that we may not like.

The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ And whether they listen or fail to listen – for they are a rebellious house- they will know that a prophet has been among them. Ezekiel 2:4,5

Ezekiel was called to be a prophet, but God warned him in advance that people wouldn’t listen to him. He was told not to expect much result from his ministry. He was a just man filling a vacancy of a prophet, so that when people go to heaven and complain or tell God to send someone from heaven to warn their relatives, God can point out some prophets like Ezekiel who were not expecting great results from their ministry.

Ezekiel had to bear much for his people. God assigned him some difficult missions. Ezekiel’s spirit was filled with bitterness and anger after hearing all this. We might have great expectations from God, and with those expectations, when we hear from God, we might not like it. Did Jonah like what he was told to do?

God’s message that doesn’t provide relief.

Not always does God’s message provide relief. Rebekah faced difficulty when her babies jostled within her, and God told her that two nations were in her womb and they would be separated. Instead of finding comfort in God’s message, this poor pregnant mother must have experienced tremendous tension, imagining that her children would never be united and would eventually fight with each other.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was told by Gabriel that a child would be born to her. These words would never bring peace to a virgin girl, especially for a woman who was about to be married. Jacob sought a blessing from God, which resulted in the renaming of his name. How many people heard his new name? Only Jacob himself and God. Not to mention the limp he received as part of this blessing. When others saw him, they only saw a limping man. Perhaps that’s why Esau forgave him because when they met, Esau was the one running, while the limping man bowed seven times. However, they did not know the message behind his new name, “Israel.” Hence, God’s message does not always provide relief.

Now, we may wonder, why should we be eager to hear from God if we’re unable to understand the message and it doesn’t necessarily provide relief? But His messages does change the lives of the people. Ezekiel vividly remembers the exact day when God talked to him: ‘In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar river, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God‘ (Ezekiel 1:1). From that day onwards, his life changed. Rebekah’s life changed as it became her mission to side with her younger son. Mary’s life changed, even though the message did not provide immediate relief to her. Yes, the disciples of Jesus didn’t fully comprehend the parables at that time. However, they surely remembered the parables, recollecting them when they were writing the Gospels years later.

Hence, the question is, ‘Do you want to hear from God?’ The day you hear from God is the day you are placed in the QUIVER OF GOD.