Hearing Voices

Author: Joseph

Date: April 14, 2019

When Israel was at Sinai, they heard loud thundering and saw flashes of lightning. A great voice from God spoke out of the cloud and the earth trembled. God’s presence was unmistakably awesome. Because the people could not bear to hear directly from Him, they asked that Moses would speak to them instead. The Israelites were so awestruck and fearful of God’s presence that they feared they would die.

"God had a remedy..."

Moses was used by God to speak to Israel on His behalf since they were terrified to hear from Him. The people had to trust that Moses was speaking on behalf of God in order for them to hear from Him, however, and this proved to be a great stumbling block for many of them. The words Moses spoke were often challenged, his position as a mouthpiece for God was often rebelled against, and even his own siblings were wrongfully jealous of him. What Israel had asked for, to hear from God through Moses, challenged their own trust in God’s ability to speak through a man.

God understood that Israel would struggle hearing from His servant, Moses, and that they would be tempted to know the things of God apart from what He instructed through Moses. The nations that were being driven out before Israel had many ways to communicate with their false gods and performed rituals to know the things they otherwise could not know – these became temptations. God instructed Israel, through Moses, “When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations” (Deuteronomy 18:9). He then continues to explain examples of behavior to which He is referring to such as: fire rituals, divination, witchcraft, omen interpretation, sorcery, spell casting, and calling on the dead.

Prophets, or mouthpieces, from God were used to allow the people to hear from God. God chose this method of communication because they asked for Moses to speak to them on behalf of God and God was pleased to be able to do so. God would continue to raise up prophets like Moses to speak to Israel. These prophets would bear God’s authority and the words they spoke would be of consequence to their listeners – both good and bad.

Israel had to refrain from trying to do the detestable practices of the nations and also had to do as God’s prophets instructed. But what if a false prophet claimed to speak on behalf of God? Knowing that God uses His prophet to speak to the people, and adversary could easily claim to be the prophet of God and speak from their own behalf to attempt to deceive the people into doing their will.

God had a remedy for this situation and instructed the people through Moses, saying:

“You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22).

Truth bears the fruit of truth and falsehood bears the fruit of falsehood. By knowing God’s words and the truth of who He is and what He’s revealed, Israel had a guide to compare anything that was spoken to them.

Three voices existed for Israel that also exist for us now: God, self, and falsehood. The first voice is Truth in its purest coming from the Creator of all things and the Lord of all. It is the voice that brings Life and shows us the Way in which things were, are, and are supposed to be. Without the voice of God, we would be completely lost in sin forever and lack wisdom about anything. This voice can be heard through God’s prophets and through God Himself.

The second voice, self, is tainted by the sin of the events in Eden. Adam and Havah ate from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but also separated themselves from God in doing so because they ate in disobedience. We are cursed in having knowledge without having God. Knowledge by itself lacks wisdom, it lacks truth, and lacks direction (a way) in which it should go. Our own voice is therefore sinful, unwise, and unreliable for anything truly good. This voice is heard inside our own minds and hearts.

The third voice, falsehood, is a consequence of sin and the effects it has on our world. This voice is active and passive. Since we live in a world decaying from sin, things that are not the way they should be can be deceivingly seen as “normal,” such as a lion chasing a gazelle. Passive falsehood simply exists. Truth states that before sin in the garden of Eden, there was no death and no creatures sought about the death of the other. Our world functions in sin now and falsehoods prevail as normal. The voice of falsehood is the most impure voice, coming from sin itself. It is the voice that brings death and makes our way chaotic. Without God’s truth, falsehood becomes our only hope in this world and when combined with the voice of self, it keeps us in disorder and brings about active falsehood. Active falsehood is when we promote and prevail something that is untrue because we see the passive falsehood, sin in this world, as normal and even natural (right or correct).

In their journey, Israel faced all three voices: God, self, and falsehood. Israel had God’s presence among them and the prophet of God to guide them in His words. They also had to face themselves as their sin caused them to struggle with obeying the words of God through Moses as well as their own desire to lead themselves. Falsehood prevailed in the world around Israel and every time they sinned, they also brought falsehood among themselves, leading to deception and death. Israel had listen to God’s voice intentionally, deny their own voice, and reject any trace of falsehood if they wanted to live.

What voice do you most often listen to? Does your desire to lead your own life drown out the voice of God?

Do you believe falsehoods and accept sin as normal? Understand that these acceptances of falsehood blind you from God’s truth and from hearing His voice.

Seek the voice of God alone. Deny yourself and the falsehood around you from having any voice in leading you.

Deuteronomy 18:9-22.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB). www.lockman.org