How do you hear God's voice? - part 1

How does God speak to us? What is God's will? This is quite a popular question for a lot of people, and I have certainly wrestled with this one. Yes, there are the usual answers - He speaks through His Word, the Bible, He speaks through pictures, dreams, other people, feelings, circumstances, etc. This post is not about giving an answer to the question, or a formula to hear God better. Instead, I want to share some of the lessons I've learned when it comes to listening to God's voice.

The first point is this. Some people say you can't know what God wants. You just have to get on and live. My question is - is this idea genuine, or is it due to trying to hear, failing and feeling disappointed? It is very dangerous to build a theology based on disappointment or lack of experience. Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take". Jesus says in John 10:27 "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me". It is clear that hearing God should be part of the normal Christian life. So why do we find that it often isn't?

It sounds obvious but the more we know God, the more we can hear His voice. That's not to say those who know Him well don't go through periods where He doesn't speak much. But sometimes we can treat God as if He's a stranger that we're trying to get answers out of. Some of the questions we have might actually be answered if we knew Him better, rather than Him just telling us the answer. The greatest joy for us is to know Him. Those who have experienced just a glimpse of Him will never be the same, never want to go back, as they have tasted something far greater than anything in this world. Knowing God is a glorious journey, and that alone will shape our entire lives, even without Him telling us some information. It is also important to note that how we see God will affect what we hear from Him. If we see Him as a nit-picker, we will always hear "you're not good enough". So it is very important to know God for who He is.