The Voice
Scripture Reading - 1 Samuel 15:1 KJV
Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD.
We (ihlcc) are still excited to share a little bit more with you on the subject of hearing “the voice” of the Lord. In our previous lesson we spoke about recognizing “A Shift” in the tone and/or rate of words coming from the speaker to discern exactly when God is speaking. God’s Words are liberating and all-powerful to do you good as opposed to just listening to the words of men which are often idle or unproductive. Since God’s Word is powerful enough to uphold all things we must expect this (His) same word to uphold us during good or bad times. Remember Hebrews 1:3 KJV which states, “Who (Jesus) being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” Whether it is perceiving a shift in a natural (physical) conversation to listen for God or hearing “God’s Voice” spiritually today’s lesson will focus more on the substance of “God’s Voice”. In the above scripture, today’s reference verse, we see that the Prophet Samuel encouraged the new King Saul to hearken unto “the voice” of the words of the Lord. This is significant because we have much to learn from this. First we have a spiritual elder speaking to a spiritual youth. Samuel as an elder was very well acquainted with hearing from God because Samuel had been listening to “God’s Voice” for years, in fact ever since he was just a child ministering unto Lord with Eli. Refer to 1 Samuel 3. Eli helped Samuel learn “The Voice” of God and in like manner Samuel is now helping others to learn “The Voice of God”. This teaches us that we should always be humble enough to listen and learn from our spiritual elders (which has nothing to do with a natural age but rather the spiritual maturity of certain faithful believers in Christ) simply because they know things about God that we are still learning. Secondly, we see for any leadership position it is wise to include God. We include God in our leadership by at least two ways. The first is knowing His Word well enough to live by His Principles while the second is having His Word abiding within us enough to live as an example of God’s Word. Yes, this should be done for not just leaders but all Christians in the Body of Christ because we are all leaders in the sense of leading people to the Lord Jesus. This brings us into today’s topic of knowing “the voice” of the Lord. Samuel was very clear to use the word hearken which is a little bit more than just hearing. The word hearken in the biblical context means to listen and obey. God is not satisfied with having just your ear (to listen) He truly desires your heart, mouth and actions too. Yes, hearkening unto “the voice” of the Words of the Lord simply means giving “God’s Voice” your full attention because the intent is to absorb that specific word from God into your heart. Once “the voice of God” gets into your heart you are expected to be obedient to do it. The Good Lord knows that there is little hope for obedience to His Word if His Words never get into your heart. Therefore we are called to listen for “His Voice” and once we hear it we openly receive it (The Voice) completely into our heart. We (ihlcc) thought it good to mention that “the voice of the Lord” is made up of the substance of God’s Word. It sounds simple but you would be surprised just how many people are confused on hearing “God’s Voice”. Why are so many people mixed up in hearing “the voice” of the Lord? You might ask. We could mention several reasons but two primary problems are these. First, many people don’t want to spend a healthy amount of time in God’s Word each day to learn His Word and the second major problem is many religious people have heard God’s Word from an elder, pastor, parent, teacher, denomination, etc… so long that they are unwilling to go to the Holy Bible for themselves to learn of God because they think that they already know God. However, just because you know a lot about God intellectually does mean you know God’s Voice experientially. Both the first problem and the second problem are keeping people from drawing closer to God via His Word. We know that Jesus Christ died to bring us into closer fellowship with Himself and our Heavenly Father but we must do our part to come to Him. We come to God first and foremost through our fellowship with His Word. Yes, you heard us correctly when we said, “We come to God first and foremost through “the voice” of the word of the Lord.” Ihlcc are you now placing spending time in God’s Word over prayer? Yes, we are because many religions of the world pray, and some pray for several hours but all those false religions don’t know God through The Savoir of the World, Jesus Christ. We firmly believe that we can’t approach God in pray until we at least know who God is and what He did for us. This knowledge of truth comes to us from reading, seeing, studying and meditating (pondering) God’s Word. When we study the truths of God’s Word we learn from God our part in His overall plan for man while on earth and then we know how to pray God’s Will for our life and the lives of others. Also, in that same context we start learning “the voice of God” because we know with all confidence when we hear His Word coming into our heart (spirit and soul) in the proper context we know we are hearing “The Voice of God”. For example, Samuel could have easily told King Saul to listen to his direction and follow his example of being a good leader but he didn’t. Samuel could have also mentioned to King Saul to fast and pray consistently to lead the Children of Israel but he didn’t simply because Samuel knew that God desired to speak directly to King Saul concerning His specific will for Saul and likewise we are encouraging you to listen for “His Voice” based on His Word to get your specific instructions for life. Any sincere man or woman of God will not point you to themselves first but rather to God because the faithful servant of God will purpose to magnify God over man every time. Yes, even we (ihlcc) truly believe we can do nothing good (eternal) outside the will of Jesus Christ and our Father God so why not point you directly to the source of all good things to learn all you need directly from God. Yes, “the voice of God’s Word” is coming to you on a regular basis so be ready to hearken to (listen and obey) it (Him) on those regular basis to complete God’s Will for your life. Remember, it is not about obeying “the voices of men” that are contrary to God’s Word it is more about learning God’s Word to know enough about God to recognize His Voice to place “The Voice of the Lord” on a higher basis (level) to obey Him first and allow all your obedience to man to be under the supervision of “God’s Word”. We know we must work with men as we also work under (in submission to) our Heavenly Father God in Jesus Name. His Voice, which is “The Voice” of God’s Word is your guidance and direction into the blessed and prosperous Life of God while upon this earth and continuing more abundantly into Heaven. Amen!