A Brick and the Voice of God

M any of us, probably more than once, have begged God for a sign. Maybe we’ve even tried to bargain with God. We ready ourselves with a string of promises meant to rope God into action. We assume it’s a spiritual quid pro quo—God does His part, we do ours. So, we promise God a renewed commitment or assign Him the rights to our firstborn, if only He would show up in some indisputable way. If He rescues us from financial disaster, we’ll be more generous. If He helps us pass that test, we’ll tell everyone how good He is. If He ensures that we land the perfect job soon, we’ll promise to one day become a missionary to Borneo.

But God is always working even when it seems like He’s not. And He’s always speaking. He doesn’t have to be cajoled or pressured into communicating. He is there and He is not silent. And when asking if God speaks, we may also stumble onto an equally important question: are we listening?

God reminds us that His power is visible and His voice is heard through creation. From the microscope to the telescope, the world is a billboard for God’s voice directed toward humanity. God’s “invisible attributes are clearly seen” in creation (Rom. 1:20). Moreover, David reminds us in Psalm 19:1-2 that,

God’s greatness is on display all around us. The created world is a megaphone for divine speech. We’re surrounded by enough evidence to convince us there’s a God, so much so that every person is without excuse (Rom. 1:20).

But God’s voice through creation tells us only so much—namely, that God exists. We need to know more about who God is. So, God speaks through the Word—Jesus, and His Word—the Bible. Jesus, the eternal Word, became flesh (Jn. 1:14). And God has spoken by His Son (Heb. 1:1-2). Furthermore, the Bible is the clear communication of God, given by inspiration from Him, and helps us know how to live (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

But is it possible that God wants to speak in another way too? Can He speak directly and personally to those whose ears are open? I believe God can and does speak directly to us. Through the years, I’ve heard God’s voice, sometimes loud and clear and other times as a gentle and faint whisper.

I first heard God’s voice when I was about 10 years old. I was playing with one of my best friends, my next-door neighbor. He and I had been friends for most of our lives. But on this particular day, we got into an argument. He was mad; I was madder. Standing near the property line between our two houses, I looked for some way to drive home my point. In my fit of anger, I looked down by my feet and saw a brick. Immediately, I picked up the brick, raised my hand, and prepared to throw the brick at him. And that’s when I heard it. My name. “Joe.” The voice was loud enough for me to ask my friend, “Did you hear my mom call me?” Since he was the intended target of my brick, my friend should have been ready to agree to anything. But he said, “I didn’t hear anything.”

The voice I heard was direct and clear, not gentle and not stern. Just a single word. My name. “Joe.” I dropped the brick and headed across the lawn and through my front door. “Mom, did you call me?” She was in the kitchen. Now, standing in front of her, I asked again, “Did you call me?” “No,” she said, “I didn’t call you.”

Nothing is quite as personal as hearing God speak your name. Sometimes that’s all it takes to mark you forever. As a young boy, Samuel heard God call his name, several times in fact. Attentiveness to God’s voice changed the course of his life. The same was true of Saul, the heinous persecutor of Christians who would become an unwavering Christ-follower and the author of much of the New Testament. Jesus called his name one day, and his life would never be the same.

God has spoken many times in the past. At the baptism of Jesus and the transfiguration, we find God speaking these words out loud, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17, 17:5). And on the threshold of His crucifixion, Jesus asks the Father to “glorify Your name.” We discover how God responded to Jesus’ request: “Then a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘I have both glorified it and will glorify it again’” (Jn. 12:27-28). When God spoke those words, many people mistook His voice for thunder (Jn. 12:29). It appears God’s voice is not always easily perceived.

At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence inside each believer in Jesus. God has given us His Spirit as a comforter and guide and helper. Prior to His crucifixion, Jesus encouraged His disciples to look forward to the arrival of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said (Jn. 16:13-15),

Notice, the Spirit will speak. He will tell things. He will declare. In speaking, the Holy Spirit will never contradict God’s written word, the Bible. The Bible is our final authority. But the Spirit guides us. How? Through wise counsel, unfolding circumstances, the Bible, and thoughts and promptings in our mind, the Spirit speaks. Are we prepared to say that the devil can whisper tempting thoughts into our minds, but the Holy Spirit can’t speak to us? I’ve yet to hear a compelling argument that God no longer speaks directly and personally to individuals. Any view insisting on God’s silence may actually originate from an anti-supernatural bias.

But like any biblical truth, the idea that God speaks to us is open to abuse. People can say God is speaking to them when He actually may not be. Any single truth is shadowed by its counterfeit. But I find myself increasingly curious about how to grow in my walk with God. And that includes a curiosity about how God leads and guides me through His Spirit.

In his book, The Familiar Stranger, Tyler Staton describes how God might be speaking to us through His Spirit. He writes,

Could it be that God doesn’t have a speaking problem, but we have a listening problem? If hearing God’s voice is like being brushed by a feather, I can see how it might be easy to miss. I’ll admit I don’t understand much about God’s mysterious ways. But I do know this: I dropped that brick all those years ago, but I picked up a confidence that God is real and that He speaks. And when God speaks, I don’t want to be among those who say, “Maybe it was just thunder.”