Hearing God’s Voice
Christian, did you know that God has spoken to us? Did you know that we can hear God’s voice? It’s true! We can hear God speak—plainly and clearly—in the Bible. That probably is not the answer you were hoping for. I know, I know the Bible is not as glamorous as other methods out there for hearing God’s voice. Yet the truth of the matter is that there is only one place where we can be confident that we are hearing the voice of God—and that’s the Bible. We see this clearly in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” The Bible is God’s breath. It is spoken by him.
So as we approach the disciplines related to hearing God’s voice we must recognize that all of them revolve around the Bible. The first discipline that grows us in our love for God is hearing the voice of God as it is spoken to us in sacred Scripture. Yet, how do we hear the voice of God in Scripture? I think there are four practices we can put in place to aid us: we read, we study, we meditate, and we memorize.
Reading
Simply reading the Bible is the spiritual discipline par excellence. While the other disciplines related to God’s word are important, this discipline is the foundation for all the others. If we are wanting to hear the voice of God on a regular basis, the best way to do that is to start reading the Bible.
However, when a pastor says something like this, it is inevitable that our minds go to the idea of a “quiet time”. We automatically think that in order to practice this discipline well, we need a serene, quiet space where we can be with the Lord. I want to challenge this notion. Don’t get me wrong—I have no issue with a dedicated quiet time. I think that there is a lot of benefit in this practice. I just don’t want anyone to think that this is the only way they can get into God’s word.
Many of us have jobs that require us to get up early in the morning. Many of us have young children who wake up at the slightest noise. Many of us have long commutes. All of these things make a morning quiet time very hard. Yet, God does not care how you get into his word, he cares that you get into his word. Reading our Bible in snippets throughout the day is just as effective as a morning quiet time. The main thing is that we make a daily discipline of reading Scripture. Whether we’re cozied up under a blanket or dedicating time during lunch at the office, we make reading it regularly a priority. This is the foundational spiritual discipline.
Studying
We can think of reading as skipping stones on a lake, it is bound to remain fairly surface level. Studying is throwing that stone out and allowing it to sink deep into the depths. When we read Scripture, we approach it like any other book. When we study Scripture, we approach it like a source that we are mining for information. This practice allows us to zero in on a particular part of Scripture and learn more.
But how is this done? Do you need an advanced degree in biblical studies to do this? No, you don’t. There are many resources available that make Bible study accessible for everyone. A perfect example of this is a Study Bible. A Study Bible is simply a Bible with marginal notes that explain the text. Therefore, a method of Bible Study utilizing a Study Bible might look like slowly reading one book of the Bible while consulting the marginal notes alongside it.
Another resource that is available for Bible Study is commentaries. A great series of commentaries for the lay person is the God’s Word for You series. I have linked here an amazing example from this series by Tim Keller. These commentaries are short, practical, and written for ordinary readers. A great way to use these is to read them alongside your open Bible, slowly digesting what is written in each.
These are just two examples of ways that you can incorporate Bible Study into your rhythm of Bible reading. However, there are many other approaches: you can listen to sermons, practice the inductive method, join a Bible Study group, and more. The possibilities are many. The key is to go deeper into a text, rather than reading it like any other book.
Meditating
When we think of meditation we often think of it as un-Christian. This is because meditation is often associated with New Age religious practices. Yet the church has been practicing meditation long before any New Age spirituality came around.
The main difference between Christian meditation and other forms of meditation is found in the purpose of them. Donald Whtiney writes, “The kind of meditation encouraged in the Bible differs from other kinds of meditation in several ways. While some advocate a kind of meditation in which you do your best to empty your mind, Christian meditation involves filling your mind with God and His truth.”[1] Christian meditation exists to fill our minds with God’s word; un-Christian meditation exists to empty our minds of everything. This means that Christian meditation always involves God’s word. We even see this in Scripture, “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your statutes; I will not forget your word” (Psalm 119:15–16).
This is different from reading or studying, it is ruminating. It’s turning over a particular passage again and again in order to apply it to our life. This might look like printing a particular passage out, reading it multiple times throughout the day, and applying the truths of it to your situation. Another way this is practiced is by repeating a passage while emphasizing different words in the text. Take Psalm 1 as an example. We might begin by pondering the word “Blessed” in the verse “Blessed is the man.” Next we would consider the word “is”, then “the”, and finally “man”. Through repetition and emphasis, this practice reveals how each word in a verse connects and applies to our lives.
Memorizing
I want to make a controversial claim. Memorizing Scripture is one of the most underutilized tools at the Christian’s disposal. There—I said it. But it’s true. I say this because memorization allows us to think about God’s word anywhere and everywhere. It is fuel for our meditation and fuel for our spiritual life.
Consider this with me. You go into work, are called into your bosses office, and laid off. Wouldn’t it be nice to have Matthew 6:25–34 memorized in that situation? Or you are at the doctors for a routine checkup, suddenly he suggests that a lump on your arm might be cancerous. Wouldn’t it be nice to have Romans 8:28 memorized in that moment? I would encourage you to quickly look up these Bible verses. I think you will agree with me that they would be a comfort in those moments.
The benefit of memorization is that it places God’s word in your heart forever. No matter what happens you have the ability to think about, ruminate on, apply, and be encouraged by God’s word. That is simply not possible without memorizing passages of Scripture.
Conclusion
Today, we have covered disciplines related to hearing God’s voice. The basic premise underlying all of these disciplines is that God speaks. He speaks in his word, the Bible. However, looking at these four disciplines and thinking about how to fit them into our day can feel like a daunting task. How are we supposed to read well, study well, meditate well, and memorize well? Let me suggest a practice.
Begin with Bible reading. Read it like any other book. As you are reading, pick a verse or two and commit to meditate on them throughout the day. Write them on a piece of paper or in your phone to ruminate on them multiple times per day. While doing this, work to memorize the verses—try repeating them to yourself without looking, then check your note to see if you got them correct. Finally, when you settle down in the evening, spend a few minutes in a commentary, aiming for depth on a particular book. This is an easy and sustainable way to practice these disciplines daily.
[1] Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 46.