Question 10: How do we know when God is talking to us?

We talk to so many people throughout our life. Sometimes in person, sometimes over email, sometimes over the phone, through facebook or twitter, and in many other ways. Some of those conversations we know who we are talking to and some of them we are talking to someone we don't recognize. After awhile we start to communicate so often that we start recognizing who we are talking to just based on what is being said or how it is being said. That is our brain recognizing the voice of our friends, our wives, our parents, our siblings, or anyone who we know really well and identifying them for us. But we only get that way with people we know, people we know really well.

In the book of 1 Samuel and in chapter 3 we can find the story of Samuel learning to recognize the voice of God. He didn't quite know what was going on at first but eventually learned who was talking to him. Here is that story:

Now the young man Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli.gAnd the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. At that time Eli, hwhose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down jin the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the young man. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

Isn't this so true of our own lives? We talk to so many people, some we may even be able to see, but we may not know who they are until we are told. In the story Eli finally recognized who was talking even though he never heard the voice and was able to tell Samuel what was going on. The same is true in our own lives. Once someone introduces us to someone we recognize them and start being able to identify them. It is no different with God.

In John 8:47 we learn that God talks to His people and that they, His people, can hear Him because they know Him. Adversely, those who don't know him cannot hear him because they haven't yet learned to recognize Him. God talks to us everyday through the Holy Spirit. This may seem cliche but the next time you hear that voice inside of you telling you that you probably shouldn't do something, it's probably the Holy Spirit. The sin nature inside of you would be telling you to go right ahead and do it but it is the Holy Spirit the helps us realize and know the difference between right and wrong. It is probably safe to say that if you think you've never heard the voice of God, you probably have you just didn't know it. You may not recognize Him for a variety of reasons. Maybe your relationship with Him isn't progressing, maybe you don't even have a relationship with our Savior, or maybe you had one and you've decided that it's just not for you. All of those things hinder your ability to hear and understand the word of God.

Just like Eli had to introduce Samuel to the voice of God, so Samuel and to be patient for God to speak and when He did hear God speak Samuel had to recognize that it was God and respond. When we are searching to hear the words of God in our lives it is important to wait and listen for God's word like we listen and wait for our teachers to teach us or our parents to talk to us. If we don't make time to listen we will not ever hear the words of God. Next we have to recognize when God is speaking. This is the hard part but with practice and through getting to know God (i.e. through studying the word, prayer, council, etc) everyone begins to know when God is talking. After we can recognize when God talks we need to be sure to acknowledge and understand what He says. We can do that through further study of the word or perhaps going and talking with someone you know about what you heard. But, lastly and most importantly we need to do what God said. Sometimes this means making sacrifices and sometimes it means doing something you never ever wanted to do but in the end we will realize why God told us to do what we did.

The important thing to remember here is that learning to listen, recognize, understand, and do what God wants takes time. We as follows of Christ will be constantly be fighting our sin natures but with practice, patience, and a daily dose of grace, God will help us learn to hear Him more clearly. So, if you want to know what God wants from you and what he is saying to you, get to know Him more, spend time reading and praying, but most importantly take time to listen and be still because when we have eliminated all the distractions of life, it is there that we will hear God the best.