Bruce Collins, Evangelist

The personal website of Bruce Collins

Meditation for the week of October 14, 2007

Isaiah 30:21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left. (NKJV)

Israel had become a people that did not want the prophets to prophesy to them because they didn’t want to hear what God had to say (v 10). But the day will come when they will be restored to the Lord. Then they will want to hear His voice guiding them. We are much like the nation of Israel. When we are away from the Lord, we will not be listening for the Lord’s voice. But when we realize that the Lord’s ways are the right ways, then we will want to hear His voice giving us direction and guidance.

Hearing the voice of the Lord is indeed a privilege. Samuel heard the voice of the Lord as a child at a time in the nation’s history when the Lord was not generally speaking through prophets. He became a man who was known for listening to the Lord and then speaking faithfully for the Lord. He did “let none of his words fall to the ground (1 Samuel 3:19).”

Elijah was guided by the word of the Lord when he heard a still small voice at Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:12). The Lord did not speak to him through a strong wind, nor did He speak to Him through an earthquake, nor did He speak through a fire, but He did speak to Elijah with a still small voice. That voice asked Elijah why he was where he was because it was not where the Lord had sent Him. He was at Mount Horeb as a result of fleeing in fear from Jezebel.

We know that hearing the word of the Lord and trusting what we hear will assure us that we possess eternal life and that we will not come into judgment. His voice will assure us that we have already been raised from the dead spiritually (John 5:24). Many of us can say that we heard the voice of the Lord when we were saved. We may have heard His voice through the words of a song, through the words of a preacher or through the words of Scripture. We know that we heard the voice of the Lord because we have found Scripture that confirms the message that we heard. But how many of us have heard the voice of the Lord since we have been saved?

If we are listening, the Lord will speak to us just like He did Samuel. We will be able to authoritatively speak for the Lord, because it will be obvious that He has spoken to us. We won’t have to say, “I think” or “It seems to me”, but we will be able to say, “God says.” And when we are asked how we know what God says, we will be able to show what God says from the Bible.

If we are listening to the Lord, the Lord will guide us. He will say, “This is the way, walk in it.” The Bible is clear that God’s way in not the popular way (Matthew 7:13-14). Instead of listening to those who seem to be experts, we will be listening to the Lord Himself. It is nice when we are so close to the Lord that when he speaks to our consciences, we hear. The Lord should not have to speak to us through the winds, and fires and earthquakes of life. These things are sometimes needed to get our attention. But if He has our attention, we can listen to Him speak to our hearts when things are calm and when the Lord uses His “still small voice”. He shouldn’t have to yell if we are listening.

Success will not necessarily result from hearing the voice of the Lord. Isaiah volunteered for a mission when the Lord spoke to him in Isaiah 6:8-10. How many of us would want to hear the voice of the Lord commission us to go on a mission that was destined to fail? That was Isaiah’s situation. We think that the Lord is speaking when he makes our ministries successful, our followers numerous and faithful, and our fund-raising profitable. But Isaiah listened when he was told that his mission would not be successful.

I believe that the Lord wants to speak to us yet today. But do I want to hear his voice? Will I do what He asks? If I will not listen, I suspect the Lord will quit speaking.

Bruce Collins

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