Hearing God's Voice

March 18, 2009

2 Peter 2:19-21

“We couldn’t be more sure of what we saw and heard—God’s glory, God’s voice. The prophetic Word was confirmed to us. You’ll do well to keep focusing on it. It’s the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts. The main thing to keep in mind here is that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of private opinion. And why? Because it’s not something concocted in the human heart. Prophecy resulted when the Holy Spirit prompted men and women to speak God’s Word.”

I entered the hospital room of a most lovely man and knew immediately that there was something different about him—something deep, something spiritual. He began to tell me the story of his life—of his 63 year marriage, of his wife and how he missed her. She had died a year prior and he told me of the week before she died. She was not well. It was clear that very nearly she would pass and as he sat by her bed, he heard the voice of God. It came quickly, clearly, unmistakably. It wasn’t something he made up. It wasn’t wishful thinking on his part. It was completely other than him. The voice said to him, “She will pass on Sunday.” He proceeded to tell others about it having to convince him that he was right. But why should they believe him? It was an odd thing and none of us really knows when our time or someone else’s might be. Right? Yet, he knew. So on Sunday afternoon, he called the family to him and they kept vigil as her breathing became more shallow, as the end neared and as the prophecy given the man came to fruition.

This Scripture isn’t that different from the man’s experience. Those who have heard and experienced the clear Word of God as prophecy know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they could not have made up what they heard. They know the words have come fast and deliberately in ways that leave their mouths gaping. They know that the message is always an answer that they have needed and sometimes the contemplation of how that answer might come to fruition seems completely impossible to our way of thinking. But the one who has heard the word has within them an unwavering faith beyond what anyone else can imagine.

It would have been easy for the false to teachers to rationalize what they had been told about the return of Christ and therefore mislead others. But Peter knew what God had told them and he knew that when something comes from the Spirit of God, those who are spiritual people can see its truth. Those who are not spiritual will rationalize it away. The voice of God was unmistakable. So the people should not be wooed away from the truth. They should listen to the Spirit. They should know the true hearts of the people who are speaking the prophecies and the true hearts of those who seek to sway others from the truth.

It is easy for us, especially if we have not experienced the voice of God speaking to us, to think that such a word is just wishful thinking. It is easy for us to rationalize it away. But then we depend so much on ourselves rather than on God, so how can we really know what it is like for those who depend so fully on God. Maybe it is not for us to judge as the false teachers were doing or for us to reinterpret what we think God may be doing. Maybe it is for us to pray that God will speak to us that we might hear the voice and know Truth experientially.

It was obvious that the man in the hospital room found a great deal of peace when he let go of needing to prove that he was right in what he heard. God proved that for him in the fulfillment of the prophecy and gave him an added hope that God indeed was at work in tangible ways in his life. What peace might just be ours if we allowed God to work that way in our lives! May we do just that! May we find peace! Amen.