“Indeed God speaks...yet no one notices it.” Job 33:14
I told my grandsons they could use my study...as long as they put it back the way they found it when they were finished. Easy enough, or...not! They came over one day and asked to use my study and I said “no”. To which they replied, “Why, grandpa?”
I answered, “Well, I set some rules about this space and last time you were here you didn’t follow them”. To which they replied, “You never said that, grandpa!” So, they were attempting to make the point that their restriction was my fault. I don’t believe they were lying to me. I believe they just didn’t hear me when I spoke. They were too wrapped up in their own world to listen.
Elihu suggests Job had the same problem...one common to all humankind. He said, listen to my words, Job; “pay attention to what I have to say. I speak with all sincerity for the Spirit of God has made me”. So you don’t need to be afraid of me because I won’t accuse you like these other guys. “You said, ‘I am pure; I am without sin; I am innocent; I have no guilt. God is picking a quarrel with me, and he considers me his enemy’ but you are wrong, and I will show you why.
God speaks, but nobody listens.
Elihu continues; In a dream, for instance...when men and women are deep in sleep, God opens their ears and gives them inclinations. Or, God might get their attention through suffering, or even through an angel...in the flesh...to mercifully reveal God’s intentions. One thing is certain, says Elihu, “God does not listen to the arrogant person’s empty plea; How much less, then, will he listen when you say that you do not see him, that your case is before him and you must wait for him.”
The Bible, our sacred scripture, is both a blessing and a bane; The Bible is a great blessing because it is “God’s word” spoken to us. When we read it we are able to discern precisely what God desires of/for us. It is a bane because the certainty we have in scripture inhibits our curiosity that God may speak in other ways. We like to say the Bible is our “sole rule for faith and practice”.
And, it is...
But, what about Believers in Job’s day...before God’s word was delivered to them? How did they know what God intended? As Elihu suggested...God spoke, by His Spirit, directly to their spirits. Or, He spoke through circumstances or prophets (angels). The important truth is; God has always spoken and always will.
As Christians, we need to recall one of our greatest blessings is God sent His Holy Spirit to live in/with us. Romans 8:9 confirms we, “are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in [us]. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” It is impossible to be a Christian without God living in us. This makes us a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). I am no longer “Lee Thompson” but I am “Lee Thompson with God living in me”.
Just try to wrap your head around that...
Foremost, this Holy Spirit living in us is intended to be a “deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until our redemption” (Eph 1:14). He is the only thing that guarantees our eternal life in Heaven. So much for the value of our good works! Also, in context with Elihu’s point, the Holy Spirit “guides us into all the truth because He will speak only what he hears God (the Father) say.” (John 16:13).
So you and I, as Christians, don’t have to let our “conscience be our guide” like the rest of the world. Good thing because our conscience is a dubious guide. Otherwise good people do some foolish things because they followed their human intuition. When Christians feel our conscience prompt us it is the Holy Spirit speaking, just as Jesus promised. And those words come directly from God through our thoughts and dreams or through the words of God’s agents (angels or prophets) and the Holy Spirit will confirm which sources are authentically Divine.
You may have heard the old story of the man who died in a flood. He sat on his roof, as the water was rising, imploring God to save him. Three different neighbors came by in boats asking if he wanted to get in. “No thank you”, he said, “God will rescue me”. When the rising flood overwhelmed him and he was ushered to the gates of Heaven he was disappointed and complained to God, “why didn’t you save me? I was praying so fervently!”
God answered...”I sent you three boats, why didn’t you get in?”
When we face trouble and confusion we need to trust God to speak. Many times He will point us directly to a passage in the Bible. Many time is will be through the words of a wise and godly friend. More often than we can imagine it will be from the mouth of an angel we don’t even recognize. But always it will be the direct prompting of the Holy Spirit speaking with our spirit.
It’s a good habit to compare God’s voice with what we already know He declares in scripture because our hearts can be prone to misunderstanding.
Live boldly out there today...
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