{"id":1291,"date":"2011-07-13T01:28:11","date_gmt":"2011-07-13T06:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?p=1291"},"modified":"2015-03-13T15:38:50","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T20:38:50","slug":"guidance-through-divine-whispering-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/07\/13\/guidance-through-divine-whispering-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Guidance Through Divine Whispering (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Part 13 of series:
\nHow Does God Guide Us?<\/em><\/a><\/h3>\n

In my last post, I related the Old Testament story of Elijah who, after confronting the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, retreats to the wilderness where he hears the \u201cgentle whisper\u201d or \u201cstill, small voice\u201d of God. I suggested that we too can hear that quiet voice as the Spirit of God speaks even today.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Unfortunately, a multitude of contemporary Christians have trivialized this ministry of the Spirit. \u201cGod spoke to me\u201d has become a virtual replacement for \u201cI thought,\u201d except that by saying \u201cGod spoke to me\u201d a person avoids having to take responsibility for his or her actions. After all, if God<\/em> told me to buy a new computer that I really don\u2019t need, who are you and who am I to question God\u2019s command? Claiming God\u2019s authority for my own thoughts not only appears to protect me from being corrected, but it also gives an added punch to my own preferences.<\/p>\n

While recognizing that the Spirit will speak to us, we must also acknowledge our tendency to misinterpret what we hear, or to mistake our own inner voice for the voice of God. My friend Dave was a pastor to young adults in a large church. Energetic, handsome, godly, and obviously single, Dave found that many of the women in his group were interested in more than just his Bible teaching. Every now and then, one of them would approach him with exciting news, \u201cGod has told me that we\u2019re going to get married,\u201d she\u2019d announced happily. At first Dave didn\u2019t know quite what to say to this unwelcome and unlikely bit of divine direction. But over time he developed an appropriate response: \u201cWell, that could be great news. Thanks for sharing it with me. Now, just as soon as God tells me that we\u2019re going to get married, then we\u2019ll do something about it.\u201d Oddly enough, God never told Dave what his young fans had purported to hear from the Spirit. He ended up marrying a wonderful woman who, ironically enough, hadn\u2019t heard God whisper Dave\u2019s name in her ear.<\/p>\n

Stories like this make it easy for those of us who are more intellectually oriented to discount hearing from God altogether. I\u2019ve known a few Christians even deny that the Spirit still speaks to our hearts in any direct way. But this extreme view opposes both the biblical record and the testimony of thousands of wise, balanced Christians who are not inclined to conjure up divine voices.<\/p>\n

I have another pastor friend whose experience of the Spirit\u2019s guidance for his marriage was quite unlike Dave\u2019s. Greg, a scholarly Presbyterian minister, was teaching an adult Sunday school class one day. In the midst of his lecture, a woman entered and sat in the back of the class. Greg, who had never seen her before, barely took notice of her entrance until he heard an inner voice say distinctly: \u201cYou are going to marry that woman.\u201d Not one to have such experiences, Greg just about fell over on the spot. Somehow he managed to finish his lesson. Many months later he did in fact marry that woman, but not because he clobbered her with a claim to spiritual guidance. First, he introduced himself to her. As a friendship developed, they both began to sense what Greg suspected from the beginning. Along with their Christian community, they discerned God\u2019s guidance with all the tools available to them. Indeed, they did marry. Once again, a skeptic could chock up Greg\u2019s experience to overactive libido or simply good luck. But as one who knows his spiritual integrity, I believe that the Holy Spirit spoke to Greg\u2019s heart in order to accomplish God\u2019s will in his life.<\/p>\n

The possibility of the Holy Spirit whispering to us may lead us to wonder: How can I develop a wise, appropriate sensitivity to the Spirit? I\u2019ll address this question in my next post in this series.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 13 of series: How Does God Guide Us? In my last post, I related the Old Testament story of Elijah who, after confronting the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, retreats to the wilderness where he hears the \u201cgentle whisper\u201d or \u201cstill, small voice\u201d of God. I suggested that we too can hear that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10251],"tags":[10252,21652,10844,10843],"class_list":["post-1291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-does-god-guide-us","tag-divine-guidance","tag-how-does-god-guide-us","tag-still-small-voice","tag-whispering"],"yoast_head":"\nGuidance Through Divine Whispering (Part 2)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Part 13 of series: How Does God Guide Us? 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