HEARING FROM GOD ISN’T ESOTERIC

By Akin Ojumu

Hearing from God is big business. It brings in loads of dough and pulls in torrents of moola. Vast empires of vainglory have been built on the foundation of hearing the still small voice. There exists today a considerable commercial conglomerate of covetousness erected on the pillars of getting a word from God.

Those who boast of a direct line of communication with God are greatly esteemed among men. The select few believed to receive regular downloads from Heaven are considered especially devout and profoundly spiritual. These highly anointed oracles of God glide on rarefied air. Pomp and pageantry seem to follow them wherever they go. Their words and deeds are cradled in an otherworldly aura of superfluousness.

Expectedly, chasing after these hallowed deities is a cult of relentless wackadoodle followers. With unabashed relish, these awestricken devotees readily gulp down every spittle-laden utterance that gushes out of the mouth of the demigods, as though their very existence depends on it. 

What’s more, the names of these holy men are, like holy water, frequently sprinkled upon prayers and supplications by adherents who believe name-dropping such mighty men is a surefire way to catch God’s attention and force Him to answer.

Deeply esoteric has the hearing from God phenomenon become that the resolute pursuit of many believers is the attainment of this exalted dimension of spiritual jimjimness. Having been sold on the highfalutin notion that to hear from God is to operate on a different level of spiritual altitude, many Christians go to great lengths to climb this mystical Kilimanjaro hoping to, one day, scale to the very top where they too can hear God speak to them on regular basis on a variety of issues as mundane as who will be crowned this season’s Premier League Champions.

Profoundly lost on these hapless seekers of God’s voice is this simple reality. Hearing the voice of God isn’t a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The written Word of God is the spoken Voice of God. Every time a believer picks up the Bible to read, God speaks through the Words that are read. Whenever the Bible is read out loud, what is heard is the audible Voice of God.

In these last days, God speaks to us by his Son. And what the Son says can be found in the pages of the Bible.

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” (Hebrews 1:1-2).

The Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is all we need to present our bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is our spiritual service of worship.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Sola Scriptura! The sufficiency of Scripture has been forever established. The Bible is the Word of God. It’s the infallible, inerrant, and all-encompassing source of all truth. To seek the voice of God outside of what’s written in the Bible is tantamount to idolatry. Those who claim to hear God speak to them directly and personally outside of the Bible are, wittingly or unwittingly, engaged in divination and sorcery.

“There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12).

The spiritual life of the child of God is sustained by the Holy Spirit through the written Word of God.

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the Words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” (John 6:63).

Every claim of hearing from God outside of the Bible amounts to adding to the Bible. And to deliberately add to the Bible is an invitation of the wrath of God.

“I warn everyone who hears the Words of the prophecy of this Book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.” (Revelations 22:18)

Given all these clear instructions and warnings in the Bible, why would any Christian want to make themself an abomination before God? Why must anyone persist in vainglorious pursuit and chasing after demonic whispers? For the sake of your soul, quit looking for the Voice of God outside of the Word of God. If you want your name written in the Book of life, seek God’s voice in the Book of life.