This is an excerpt from a bible commentary on the book of Job:
How does God speak? He speaks sometimes through dreams. He speaks sometimes through visions. God can speak in various ways to people. I think, though, that our hearts need to be open to hear the voice of God. I believe that God is speaking and does speak quite often and we just don't understand that it is God speaking. We don't understand His voice. We're looking for some echo chamber type of voice. "Charles..." Oh God! You know, just expecting things to just reverberate. But God speaks in such beautiful, natural ways that we're not always aware that it is God speaking. God can speak to us through dreams. He can speak to us through visions. He can speak to us through angels. He can speak to us through His Word. He can speak to us through a friend. God can speak to us in many different ways, and you can't really limit the ways by which God speaks to a man.
How does God speak? He speaks sometimes through dreams. He speaks sometimes through visions. God can speak in various ways to people. I think, though, that our hearts need to be open to hear the voice of God. I believe that God is speaking and does speak quite often and we just don't understand that it is God speaking. We don't understand His voice. We're looking for some echo chamber type of voice. "Charles..." Oh God! You know, just expecting things to just reverberate. But God speaks in such beautiful, natural ways that we're not always aware that it is God speaking. God can speak to us through dreams. He can speak to us through visions. He can speak to us through angels. He can speak to us through His Word. He can speak to us through a friend. God can speak to us in many different ways, and you can't really limit the ways by which God speaks to a man.
Elijah said there was a fire; God wasn't in a fire. There was a horrible wind; God wasn't in the wind. There was an earthquake; God wasn't in the earthquake. And then there came a still small voice and God was in the still small voice (I Kings 19:11-13). Now that was that particular experience, but God can speak and did speak to Moses through the fire. God spoke to the jailer through an earthquake. God can speak in different ways. The fact is, God is speaking. Am I listening? Am I tuned in?
Would you believe me if I told you that in this room tonight there are all kinds of pictures and all kinds of voices? There is beautiful symphonic music in this room right now. And there's hard rock. And there's all kinds of sounds in this room right now. Now if you had a little radio and you would tune it, you could pick up all of the music that's floating through the air. Just by turning your tuner. Tuning in. You could see all of the pictures that are floating through the air. Hear the voices. But you've got to be tuned into them. Even so, God is speaking, but we're not always tuned in to the voice of God. It takes really, I think, a definite act of our own will of saying, "Lord, speak to me. Show me." And then waiting to allow God to speak to us. Listening to what the Lord might have to say. And I think that our mistake is that we're not asking God direct questions, and thus we're not getting direct answers. We're not listening enough to hear God speak to us. God has spoken once; God has spoken twice. He speaks in visions. He opens ears. He turns us from our purposes in order that He might keep us back from the pit.
Lately, a prayer of mine has been to see God throughout my day. I've noticed that after I close my Bible in the morning, my thoughts about Him cease and rarely return to Him throughout the day. It's crazy how quickly my attention and affections shift. Within minutes of no longer physically being in the Word, my priorities take a big turn.
One of my favorite lines in a hymn called Come Thou Fount is "Tune my heart to sing thy grace." It reminds me of the process of tuning my guitar. I sit there and in the quiet, carefully checking each string against the electronic tuner. There is no noise and no outside influence to disrupt the process... The quietness allows me to be precise. If even one string is out of tune, it just doesn't sound right when I play. I can still play, but why would I settle for a discordance when taking the time to tune each string will result in a most beautiful harmony. That line in Come Thou Fount reminds me of how badly I need God's direction. I need his truth and his truth only to "Tune my heart."
Lord, tune my heart to your truth today! When I try to do things on my own, it just doesn't work right. Would you turn and tweak my priorities until they line up with yours? Help me to shift my own attitudes to agree with yours instead of the other way around. Make me aware and forgive me of the times when I have tried to trivialize your word to suit my own desires. Tune my heart to sing Thy grace!
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