“Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about” (Gen. 22:2, NIV). That’s what God told Abraham to do at the age of 100.
Abraham readily obeyed God. But how did he know it was the voice of God speaking to him? What God told him to do was no simple request such as pass up your meals for a day, or go and make amends to your neighbor you offended. No, God was telling Abraham to go to an unspecified location, and to kill and offer up his only son as a burnt offering!
Though the Bible does not tell us so, it’s reasonable to assume that God spoke to Abraham in an audible voice.
God speaks to us through various means today. They include the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, prophecy, dreams and visions. In this post, I am referring to these collectively as the “voice of God.” Some people even say they have had experiences in which God spoke to them in an audible voice.
If you listen to some believers, especially some preachers, God speaks to them all day long every day. In one sermon, they may mention six things God told them in the past 24 hours.
Abraham’s experience underscores the importance of knowing the voice of God. Had it not been for the voice of God speaking to Abraham a second time, he would have ended up going to the middle of nowhere and killing his only son that God had miraculously blessed him with.
The Dangers of Falsely Invoking the Voice of God
It seems to me that believers today are too eager to say God told them this or that. At times, they are outright lying because their claims contradict the Word of God. Sometimes, it’s an attempt to justify what they themselves want to do. At other times, they just want to seem super holy.
Some pastors categorize the local church they pastor as a “prophetic ministry.” They claim to be lead prophetically. God speaks to them, they say, and they lead the ministry accordingly. They tend to believe that whatever direction they take the ministry is above question by the deacons, elders, or anybody else because God has so directed them.
Personally, I believe that an individual leading a church that way and regarding himself to be above question is downright dangerous. Even when we prophesy, we do so in part (1 Cor. 13:9).
It is crucial that you guard yourself against error in discerning the voice of God. Why? Because whether you are a parent, a pastor, or business leader, the decisions you make affect everybody under you. For instance, if Abraham was wrong about who was speaking to him, Isaac would have ended up dead.
The pastor who takes the church in a new direction because he thinks he has heard the voice of God when he has not will misdirect the entire congregation. The same is true about the Christian business leader who does that.
We can’t dismiss the subject of God speaking to His children. He does speak to us. We should always be open to hearing from Him in any of the ways mentioned above. That is the gist of having a personal relationship with God.
On the other hand, it is impossible to exaggerate the danger of taking action, advising others, or leading others based upon one’s claim to have heard the “voice of God” when he has not.
Copyright © 2023 by Frank King. All rights reserved.