HOW DOES GOD SPEAK TO YOU?

Numbers 1:1 (ESV) 1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai...

We have been journeying through the Old Testament in our daily Bible.  Every page there have been treasures and nuggets of truth that God has revealed to us.

- In Genesis we saw how God created the world and how man became so sinful that God destroyed the earth with a flood.  It was a book of "New Beginnings" and followed the lives of people like Abraham and Joseph.

- In Exodus, we see how Israel escaped slavery in Egypt and how God miraculously set them free from hundreds of years of bondage.  They came through the Red Sea and saw God provide through the desert wilderness. They came to Mount Sinai where God appeared to them in a spectacular way; where Moses went up on the mountain to meet with God and receive the law.

- In Exodus, God reveals His plans to build a tabernacle of meeting and how God established a priesthood.

The Book of Exodus covered a year.  The Book of Leviticus covered only a month.  The Book of Numbers will now cover more than 38 years.

The wilderness was never meant to be Israel's destination. God's intention was to bring them into the Promised Land of Canaan. The wilderness was intended as a temporary place - a place to move through, not to live in.

The Book of Numbers is all about God's people in the wilderness - how they got there, how God deals with them in the wilderness, and how He brings them out of the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land.

"The theme of the book of Numbers is the journey to the Promised Land of Canaan. Its opening ten chapters, covering a mere fifty days, describe how Moses organized Israel for the march from Sinai to the Promised Land." (Wenham)

The Book of Numbers gives us a big vision: Where is God taking us? What will it take to get there? What inward qualities must God develop in us and demand in us along the way?

Promised Land people are very different from slave people. Israel emerged from Egypt a slave people, basically unsuited for the Promised Land. How would God transform them into a promised-land people?

"So the Israelites had been slaves in the land of Goshen; their tasks were appointed, and their taskmasters compelled their obedience. Their difficulties had been great, their bondage cruel, but they were free from the necessity of thought and arrangement. Having escaped from their taskmaster, they imagined that freedom meant escape from rule. They had been taught in their year of encampment under the shadow of the mountain that they had to submit to law, and it was irksome to them, and they became discontented. This discontent resulted from lack of perfect confidence in God." (Morgan)

The Book of Numbers approaches it all God's way. When we are in the wilderness, we are tempted to launch a hundred different schemes and plans to escape. But only God's way really works; and the Book of Numbers gives us God's way. The idea that the LORD spoke to Moses is repeated more than 150 times and more than 20 different ways in Numbers.

Notice the opening verse...

Numbers 1:1 (ESV) 1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai...

How does God speak to you today?  How do you know that it was God?  Is it possible to hear His voice? Does God want us to hear His voice? How does God speak? How are we to listen?

Notice some of the people that God spoke to in the Bible...

"God spoke unto Noah, saying” (Genesis 8:15).
“The Lord had said unto Abram …” (Genesis 12:1).
“The Lord said unto Moses …” (Exodus 24:12).
“Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah …” (Isaiah 38:4).
“Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

God is speaking, and we can hear His voice. Christianity is a relationship; every relationship is established and maintained through communication. It is vital that we learn to hear God’s voice, so that we may deepen our relationship with our heavenly Father.

God Speaks to Us in Many Ways

Our creative God is not limited to one form of communication. He is all-powerful; He is omnipresent; He is sovereign. The Bible is filled with accounts of God speaking to individuals, to families, and to nations. In the past He spoke in many different ways, and that is true today as well.

1- God Speaks to Us Through His Word

The Bible is one of God’s provisions to equip us to do His will. (See II Timothy 3:16–17.) God’s Word is alive; it is active in our lives. The Bible is an absolutely essential part of your walk with God. You must not neglect His Word. It is one way that He speaks to you personally, powerfully—today. (See I Thessalonians 1:5, 2:13.)

2- God Speaks to Us Through Our Prayers

God also speaks to us when we pray. Unfortunately, many of us have the mistaken idea that the purpose of prayer is to change God’s mind. We think, “If I can just plead with God long enough and hard enough, He’ll give me what I’m asking for.” Prayer is not a way to twist God’s arm.

Prayer is God’s means of getting through to us, so that we can do things for Him! As we pray, God takes our focus off of our needs and puts our focus on His love and His power. Through prayer, God changes our perspective to conform to His purposes; He establishes His priorities for our lives; He leads us into all truth.

3- God Often Speaks in a “Still, Small Voice”

At a time when the prophet Elijah was discouraged and depressed, God spoke to him: “And he [God] said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he … went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? ” (I Kings 19:11–13).

Sometimes God will speak through “the wind or an earthquake or a fire,” but most often He speaks in a still, small voice. Be attentive!

4- God Speaks Through Circumstances

You must be diligent to seek God and to be attentive to His work in every facet of your life, because another way that God speaks to us is through our circumstances. As you focus on the Lord, especially during difficult or painful circumstances, God can show you His perspective about your circumstances. Rather than trying to figure out everything, equipped only with our limited knowledge and understanding, we can acknowledge the Lord in all of our ways and rely on His love for us, His sovereignty, and His plan for our good. (See Proverbs 3:3–13 and Romans 8:26–32.) He is totally trustworthy.

5- God Speaks Through Others

The Bible records many instances in which God used one individual to deliver His message to another individual. (See I Samuel 13:13–14, 15:23; II Samuel 12:7–15; and Acts 9:10–18, 10:1–33.) God may speak to you through another individual—a friend, a parent, a pastor, even a stranger. You would be wise to confirm what you hear God saying by seeking affirmation of that direction through wise, Godly people.

One of the best places to find individuals who can give you Godly counsel is your local church. Even if your fellow church members do not directly give you counsel, God can use their words to reveal or confirm His will, as the Holy Spirit works in your lives. Also, as a member of a local church, you can observe what God is saying to the entire church. God often will direct you personally through the input of others who are regularly in Christian fellowship with you.

With God, Nothing Is Impossible!

God is not limited in any way. He is not restricted to certain methods of communication with His children. Just as He creatively and dramatically used a donkey to rebuke Balaam, God can just as creatively and dramatically communicate His message to your heart as you hear someone else pray, as you read a testimony included in your church newsletter, or as you suddenly understand the full meaning of a song you hear. With God, nothing is impossible! (See Luke 1:37)

In John 10:14, 27–28, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. … My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

Stay as close as possible to the Shepherd, and you will always know if He is the One whose voice you hear.