It seems to me that if God were primarily interested in having servants who would obey His voice in their lives, then Christians would experience direct communication from Him far more often than they do, and it should come in an audible voice. What if God is really interested in disciples who understand godliness and righteousness and are able to act from that understanding so that they are doing His will because that is what seems good to them? Then His interaction with us would be with that goal in mind, guiding us into an understanding that would then produce the right decision. This is how God’s direct interaction with Peter and Cornelius in chapter 10 led to the decision of the Jerusalem Council in chapter 15.

A theology that emphasizes hearing the voice of the Lord is sometimes combined with a dim view of human understanding. Especially in deciding what is to be done, human understanding is set up against hearing the voice of the Lord as if they are opposed to one another. What comes from the human mind is of little value and it is what comes from hearing the voice of the Lord that is needed. Indeed, relying on human wisdom and understanding is seen as a barrier to hearing and obeying the voice of the Lord. What seems good to the Holy Spirit is not going to seem good to us much of the time.

The voice of the Lord to Peter in Acts 10:20, telling him to accompany the three men from Cornelius’s household without hesitation (word for exercising discernment or trying to understand), is an example of this in operation. If Peter were to rely on his current understanding, he would consider it unlawful to accompany the men to Cornelius’s house. He is to ignore his current understanding and simply obey the voice of the Lord and go with the men. But this is not the voice of the Lord telling Peter how to view Gentile believers or whether Gentile believers should keep the law. It is a voice directing him to a specific action, to go with the men. This action leads him to an experience which then changes his understanding about God’s perspective on Gentiles.

So God does not bypass Peter’s understanding in order to guide him in the right path. God redeems Peter’s understanding and guides him so that his understanding is in line with what is right. In the end, Peter is relying on his understanding when he states in Acts 10:34 “Truly I now understand that God shows no partiality.” And James is relying solely on his own understanding, informed by the testimony of Peter and Paul and Barnabas, when he begins his proposal with “my judgement is…” There is no personal voice of the Lord or what he has heard from the Lord that he is operating from.

Rather than supporting a theology that elevates hearing the voice of the Lord over and above wisdom and understanding, Paul’s prayers for the Philippians and Colossians center on growing in wisdom and understanding. Phil 1:9-10 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Col 1:9-10 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Greg Koukl writes in Does God Whisper Part 3 , “The idea that skill in hearing God needs to be developed seems odd, since no mention of this is made in Scripture and no biblical examples of developing this skill with increasing success exist.” This is a provocative claim that I am not sure about. But, it is true that Paul does not pray for these churches to grow in their ability to hear God in order to do what is right. He prays for them to grow in knowledge and discernment and to be filled with all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that they will do what is right.

So when we are looking for God’s guiding activity in our lives, perhaps we should be looking at everything around us and discerning the hand of the Lord in helping us to grow in wisdom and understanding. This may not be as attractive to us as the more direct voice of the Lord, but it does appear to be the way that the Lord wants to operate. And next time I will look at how this is better for following God at work.

I would love to connect with you about these posts if they have stirred any thoughts or questions. Take a minute, shoot me an email at bo@leavenedlives.org, and let’s see where that takes us.