Sometimes hearing God’s voice and knowing God’s will can be a traumatic experience: Saul of Tarsus first encountered Jesus in a dramatic fashion. (You can read the account in Acts 9.) A light flashed all around him, and he fell to the ground with a thud. Then, he heard a voice that he did not recognize. It called to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
Shocked and confounded, Saul called back, “Who are you, Lord?”
The voice resounded again, “I am Jesus.”
Though Saul had spent his life in the Scriptures, he still was unaware of what God sounded like. Can you imagine that? Saul believed he was at the top of his religious game only to find out later that he had missed God’s will the whole time. Can you imagine knowing God’s words, but never knowing his voice? Saul’s conversion experience set the stage for his entire life. He instantly went from Saul, the persecutor of Christians, to Paul, the apostle. He had met Jesus and would not soon forget the Lord’s voice. The beauty was that because he had heard the voice once, he would recognize a familiar voice when he would hear God again.
This voice is what would enable Paul to know how to live out the life God had called him to. Paul needed more than just the Scriptures to know God’s will. [NOTE: It’s also true that we need to know the scriptures. God won’t speak contradict what he’s already said in the Bible. But the point here is that Paul also needed to hear the voice of Jesus.] He relied on God’s voice to speak to him about where to travel, what to say, and how to tend his heart.
The truth is we all need to hear the voice of God. His thoughts on who we are and what we do are as invaluable as heaven itself. But can I recognize God’s voice? Do I allow myself to trust what I believe to be God’s opinion on my life? Most of us would agree we want this type of communication with God. However, most of us would also admit we have a hard time hearing him speak.
