Discerning God’s Voice

Deuteronomy 18:15-22

How can we know when God speaks? The theme of God speaking is what I’ve been trying to talk with the children about during kid’s time the past several weeks. What does God’s voice sound like? Are you looking in the direction of God or away from God? Our children need to wrestle with and think about these questions but you know what? We do too! How do you know when God speaks to you? How do you recognize a prophetic voice from God?

Many boldly, and sometimes foolishly, step into this arena. Many of us know of Pat Robertson of The 700 Club television program.[1] Some of you may even watch it. Recently on his program, he has called for the assassination of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. He has claimed that God caused Ariel Sharon’s massive stroke as a punishment for conceding land to the Palestinians.[2] He even suggested that Satan caused Dick Cheney’s shortness of breath because Cheney is committed to defeating evildoers in Iraq and Satan is the chief evildoer so he must be ticked off at Cheney. Robertson did send out some condolences though to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who needed fifteen stitches in his lip after a motorcycle accident. Robertson said he’s pretty sure the accident was caused by Satan. “But,” he added, “Satan is no match for a Republican.”[3]

Now I’m not trying to push a political agenda here. Pat Robertson has done some wonderful things in his ministry. But are his comments and prophecies the ones to whom we should be listening? There’s no doubt his comments are bold. How can we know whether or not he speaks for God? Therein lies the focus of this text today.

Israel is getting ready to enter the Promised Land. They’re standing at the edge looking in. Moses is getting old and his days of speaking God’s word to the people are numbered. As Moses lays out guidelines for living once he’s gone, he also offers some guidance for discerning who will speak for God in the future. One thing Israel knows, that it’s dangerous to hear the voice of God. On Mount Horeb, when Israel received the Ten Commandments, they saw the thunder and lighting, the mountain was smoking, and they knew something big was going on. They said to Moses on that day, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”[4] So God promises a series of prophetic voices which will guide the people in the future. These voices will be raised up from among the people.[5] They will speak for God.[6] And most importantly, God would hold the people accountable for these words.[7] So there’s a sense of urgency for them to listen.

Staying in touch with God had become a holy obsession for the people. The people wanted to know God’s intentions. They were sincere in their pursuits. But since they were human beings, they sometimes looked in directions their pagan neighbors did which was the wrong direction as far as God was concerned. In the Ancient Near East, there were many resources available for discerning divine communication. One could examine an animal’s liver, read the flight of the birds, or talk to the dead through a medium.[8] But God told the people to forget all these. They were to listen to divinely inspired prophetic voices. These prophets were to provide guidance and speak a word of authority for the people.

I don’t think we are much different than Israel. Our own passion for hearing God has caused us to strain to hear…and sometimes get burned. Friends have misled us. A preacher’s presumption of authority has ruined many lives and many churches. If the kind of discernment we’re talking about here was easy, there wouldn’t be so many “messages from God” missing their mark. It’s really not any easier for us today than it was for ancient Israel.

There are two criteria listed in our passage for figuring out if someone is speaking for God or not.

First, we need to discern the person’s motives. Verse 20 warns against speaking in the name of other gods. God has given common sense to most of us. We need to use that to analyze the motives of the person who presumes to speak for God. Does that person stand to gain the most from this word you receive? Is the message consistent with the rest of the Bible’s teaching? Most true prophets have been reluctant to deliver their message from God because it’s often bold and audacious. And besides that, verse 20 says that presuming to speak for God and being wrong gets you killed! John Cassian, one of the desert ascetics of the 4^th century, said that it was a trick of the devil to desire to speak for God. True prophets carry a burden: God wants them to speak; the message is often…not always but often…difficult to hear; and the consequences of being wrong are great. So, we must use our discernment.

The second qualifier laid out in our text for discerning the voice of God is perhaps even harder to apply. The second criteria in verse 22 says if “…a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken.” Old Testament prophets often foretold bad news: exile, destruction, and judgment. If the people listened to the prophet…which rarely happened…then they were admitting their great sin and the prophecy of judgment didn’t come true. “So was this a word from God or not?” they asked. If they didn’t listen to the prophet, then the bad thing or judgment happened anyway. Most decisions in life don’t have time to play themselves out.

So what should we do with this second criteria? To me, it’s clear that we each must become theologians if we’re going to figure this out! The word “theology” means the study of God. If we are to discern prophetic voices, then we need to be close to the heart of God. God gave wandering Israel a command early in their desert experience. We call it the Shema: “The Lord our god is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”[9] When we get closer to the heart of God, then his desires and passions for us become clearer.

The problem we have to overcome is that we’d like to know God’s word for our lives simply by doing a Google search or some other quick result in our instantaneous lives. God wants us each moment of each day. This passage gives some strong words for those who are leaders of God’s people. But it also places great responsibility on the followers. There is no passive following with God. God demands that you be actively engaged with Him if you want to know His voice.

Jim Wallis, someone often considered to be a prophetic voice of our day, wrote these words in his book, The Call to Conversion:

We have forgotten we are God’s people, and we have fallen into the worship of American gods. Now God’s word to us is to return. Church historians may someday describe our period as the “American captivity of the church.” It is no less real than the Babylonian Captivity in the history of Israel. Trapped in our false worship, we no longer experience the freedom that is our birthright in Jesus Christ.[10]

Folks, it doesn’t have to be this way. My own prophetic word from God today is that we need to be closer to the heart of God.

Amen.

[1] This Robertson information is referenced in an editorial written by Dan Clendenin, “Repudiating Robertson: How Can We Know When God Speaks?” See www.journeywithjesus.net

[2] Robertson complained that the media misquoted him on this and denied he had made these remarks about Sharon on January 11, 2006. But he did write a letter to Sharon’s son apologizing for his “inappropriate and clearly insensitive” remarks. He asked for forgiveness from Omri and the nation of Israel. See http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/12/robertson.apology/index.html.

[3] See The 700 Club, January 5^th and 10^th, 2006.

[8] See 1^st Samuel 28:8-14 for Saul’s experience of using a medium.

[10] Jim Wallis, The Call to Conversion (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1992), p. 31.