Hearing from God

Originally posted February 11, 2010

When I was a youth, I became an important part of a small group study. The leader was just a lay person that had received some great spiritual insight over the years and he was pouring it into our mostly teen age group. But see, I was a college and career guy - so I was older and therefore looked up to in the group.

The group as a whole was pressing on me to press on the leader to get out and do. Let's put our hands and feet to work. It sounds like the right thing to do. We wanted to feed the homeless, pass out tracks on the streets of Washington DC. We wanted to do food drives or clothing drives or just go sing Christmas Carols. But out leader said it wasn't time.

Finally, he said something that I will never forget because this is the first time I clearly "heard" from God.

He told me to pray that God would give me two verses that we could use to determine the direction the group should take. He would do the same. So I did. I spent a couple days praying and then one day it happened.

"Joshua"

"Joshua" I said out loud.

"Joshua 4"

"Joshua 4" I said out loud.

"Joshua 4:8"

"Joshua 4:8" I said out loud.

And then I tore into my Bible to look it up. The summary of which was that the people of Israel did what their leader, Joshua, said to do.

I waited. And in the same manner, I received another verse and it was similar to the first. "AWESOME!"

The danger in this and the danger in all the scriptures is sometimes difficult to see. I believe that the Bible holds the truth I need for salvation and it is the ultimate standard for all things in my life. However, my interpretation of the scriptures may be flawed. I have a finite mind, with eternity set in my heart.

When you read that scripture verse, did you think... Well, the group should fall in line behind the leader? Good. But who was the leader? The group had nominated me to represent their desires to go into the community. So I saw myself as the leader - but you might now consider that I was playing the role of Aaron, melting the gold into a fire and "Wa-la! a golden calf!"

Yes - I played the role of Aaron based on my interpretation of those scriptures. The group split and was never the same again.

To this day, I know I heard from God. But I was not careful in my interpretation of those scriptures. In the same way, I have been praying for more verses. I don't know how it will turn out, but now I also pray for the wisdom to interpret those verses correctly.