Where in scripture are christians told that God will speak to them in a still small voice?
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The still small voice
- Thread starter Asforme&myhouse
- Start date
1 Kings 19:11-13
11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
The 'still small voice' verbiage ok nvm wifeofhisyouth pointed out the reference.
Christians I don't think are told that God WILL speak to them in a still small voice. Not explicitly. I hold the belief that God has many ways to speak to His children, a still small voice is just one of them. I have heard a still small voice before but it would be completely untrue for me to say that God had never spoken to me before that point.
Personally I think that "God will speak to them in a still small voice" may be counterproductive for Christians to believe. We are told that we have been given the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, and that He will take of Jesus and show it to us. That is the promise to hold on to. A man who reads Elijah's story may get to feeling disfavored if he never hears a voice, if he takes the meaning of it to be a promise to all believers.
I think a better takeaway would be "God absolutely could and would speak to His people in a still small voice".
For myself, whenever God shows me something in scripture and transforms my thinking, that is also God speaking to me. And that happens much more often (and is much more useful on a daily basis) than what He reveals with a voice.
Christians I don't think are told that God WILL speak to them in a still small voice. Not explicitly. I hold the belief that God has many ways to speak to His children, a still small voice is just one of them. I have heard a still small voice before but it would be completely untrue for me to say that God had never spoken to me before that point.
Personally I think that "God will speak to them in a still small voice" may be counterproductive for Christians to believe. We are told that we have been given the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, and that He will take of Jesus and show it to us. That is the promise to hold on to. A man who reads Elijah's story may get to feeling disfavored if he never hears a voice, if he takes the meaning of it to be a promise to all believers.
I think a better takeaway would be "God absolutely could and would speak to His people in a still small voice".
For myself, whenever God shows me something in scripture and transforms my thinking, that is also God speaking to me. And that happens much more often (and is much more useful on a daily basis) than what He reveals with a voice.
Yep that’s the only place in scripture I’m aware of that God uses a still small voice. My question is how has that become the go to way for us as believers to hear God’s voice? Why not burning bushes or from smoking mountains or dark clouds or pillars of fire or from naked prophets?
I don’t know how common it is, it doesn’t get much airplay around our house.
(We are big on listening for YHWH’s wishes)
I have been struggling with this myself recently. Most of the the time, I can't hear his voice, but I can feel God's direction guiding me to confront different entreprenurial opportunities or family problems. Thank you for bringing this important topic to the forum as4me. All I know is you need to be prayed up and meditating on the Psalms every morning so you don't miss your blessing. Many times I have had females cross my path that I have ignored dismissing it as random. But my failure to engage is really based out of fear. Pray and believe, faith will follow!!!
Your question reminded me of this passage:
Hebrews 1:1-2. God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
I think because where it says "still, small, voice" people are prone to reading it as either "the voice of your God-given conscience" or "whatever thought happens to pop in your head" which makes it palatable for a church that actually isn't looking for God to tell them anything they don't already know.
Edit: Or want very badly to hear from God and are trying to shoe-horn in as much as possible to make that happen. Either way, the still small voice can be made to mean anything you like, and since most people most of the time don't hear actual voices, it can be defined quite broadly without much fear of definitive correction. If I claim to have heard the still small voice of God, it doesn't matter which way I meant it or which doctrinal school my audience subscribes to, I'm pretty safe in saying it as long as the content doesn't drastically deviate from what was expected.
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One of the answers is we see what we look for and we hear what we listen for. We have been trained not to expect such things.
Those are some pretty exceptional examples, though, and unlikely to be repeated exactly. If you look at the prophets of old you'll see that God often spoke through or in conjunction with visual imagery. That's a good place to start if you're interested in expanding your understanding of "God's voice".
I don’t know about that, I don’t think Moses expected to see a burning bush that day and I’m pretty sure the children of Israel had no clue that Sinai was on the itinerary. Also, by number of occurrences the burning bush and the still small voice are the exceptional examples, strangely enough.
I grew up in a charismatic church. Prophecy, speaking in tongues, words of knowledge, laying hands on the sick, and the “God speaks to us in a still small voice” thing where on full display, along with dreams and visions. Also, it was “prophesied” on a number of occasions by different people that I was called to be an Apostle and have an apostolic gift and was being “discipled” to be an Apostle (big “A” Apostle, by the way, like the establish doctrine kind of Apostles) in that church. Just thought I’d throw that in there just so you know that what I say has weight.
Just kidding about that last part.
The problem is, that over time, every one of those people who prophesied over me that I was an Apostle, also prophesied things that didn’t happen or where contradictory to God’s word. They were false prophets.
The Prophets of old didn’t struggle to hear God’s voice. When God wanted to speak, there was no “missing it”. It wasn’t something conjured up by the prophets or that they had to tune in to hear (like a lot of folks teach about the still small voice). Even Balaam had to say what God told him to say... and his donkey. Samuel heard God’s voice and he definitely wasn’t expecting to hear it, but it was loud and clear.
I’m not saying that God cannot speak to us in a still small voice if He chooses to, but I do think that a lot of christians are far too* flippent about “hearing God”.
If the same God who breathed out the scriptures is speaking to us, it is not a thing to take lightly.
My question here is, if you find that what The God of the universe says to you by voice is less useful then what He shows you in scripture, are you sure it is God’s voice?
*edit
I grew up in a charismatic church. Prophecy, speaking in tongues, words of knowledge, laying hands on the sick, and the “God speaks to us in a still small voice” thing where on full display, along with dreams and visions. Also, it was “prophesied” on a number of occasions by different people that I was called to be an Apostle and have an apostolic gift and was being “discipled” to be an Apostle (big “A” Apostle, by the way, like the establish doctrine kind of Apostles) in that church. Just thought I’d throw that in there just so you know that what I say has weight.
Just kidding about that last part.
The problem is, that over time, every one of those people who prophesied over me that I was an Apostle, also prophesied things that didn’t happen or where contradictory to God’s word. They were false prophets.
The Prophets of old didn’t struggle to hear God’s voice. When God wanted to speak, there was no “missing it”. It wasn’t something conjured up by the prophets or that they had to tune in to hear (like a lot of folks teach about the still small voice). Even Balaam had to say what God told him to say... and his donkey. Samuel heard God’s voice and he definitely wasn’t expecting to hear it, but it was loud and clear.
I’m not saying that God cannot speak to us in a still small voice if He chooses to, but I do think that a lot of christians are far too* flippent about “hearing God”.
If the same God who breathed out the scriptures is speaking to us, it is not a thing to take lightly.
My question here is, if you find that what The God of the universe says to you by voice is less useful then what He shows you in scripture, are you sure it is God’s voice?
*edit
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That 'on a daily basis' part that you omitted was actually kind of key to my point. God has given me a couple verbal directives, one concerning a specific moment of obedience that was 6 years ago and one is concerned with an event that I have no idea how far in the future it may be. But between 6 years ago and the undefined future I have a lot of living and ministry to do that neither of those directives really touch on. Whereas His Spirit regularly opening up His word to me and renewing my mind is no less a revelation and is more useful in an ongoing, daily way than what few things I've heard from the Lord audibly. Manna is needed everyday, and yesterday's manna rarely keeps.
Whether or not I find it useful couldn't change it's authenticity. I rarely find genealogies in Numbers useful, yet they are God breathed nonetheless.
Ah, it sounded like you were saying that you hear His audible voice quite regularly, but don’t find it as useful.
I'm not sure where you're going with this, as it sounds at first like you're disagreeing with me, but you finish by sort of quoting me ("Those are some pretty exceptional examples, though, and unlikely to be repeated exactly.").
What I said before that was "We have been trained not to expect such things", as in things such as the dramatic examples you provided from scripture. I don't expect another burning bush in any event (God is more creative than that), but your question had to do with today's emphasis (in some parts of the church) on 'the still small voice' versus more dramatic interventions by God, and I agree with Slumber's take: The 'still, small voice' of modern jargon can be any voice in your head you want it to be. That's one of the answers. And the other one is that much of the church has been trained not to expect God to speak at all, so we don't see or hear what we don't believe in, and if God ever did speak to us in some dramatic way we'd think we're having some sort of psychotic break (or the people around us would).
Hence my suggestion that if someone is sincerely interested in how God speaks to His people, a good starting place is to study the books of the prophets, and the use of imagery in particular. Stick a toe in the water, so to speak....
God's gonna do what God's gonna do. If He wants to get someone's attention, He'll get it, and the person being addressed will know his attention's been got. Those are the big dramatic episodes that make for good stories, precisely because they're so unique.
My interest is in the kind of situation described in the apostolic authority thread: A group of 'prophets and teachers' is praying and fasting, and in that context, God shows up and gives some very specific instructions. That suggests that there may be some things we can do to increase the odds that God will speak to us (and we'll know it was God).
I agree with you, AFM&MH, in your critique of false prophets and a good chunk of the charismatic church, that doesn't seem to care about the 'batting averages' of its 'prophets'. And I agree that far too many Christians are flippant about what they describe as hearing from God. I would add that in my experience far too many Christians are casually dismissive or knee-jerk judgmental of the idea that God speaks to anyone. So it goes....
My interest is in the kind of situation described in the apostolic authority thread: A group of 'prophets and teachers' is praying and fasting, and in that context, God shows up and gives some very specific instructions. That suggests that there may be some things we can do to increase the odds that God will speak to us (and we'll know it was God).
I agree with you, AFM&MH, in your critique of false prophets and a good chunk of the charismatic church, that doesn't seem to care about the 'batting averages' of its 'prophets'. And I agree that far too many Christians are flippant about what they describe as hearing from God. I would add that in my experience far too many Christians are casually dismissive or knee-jerk judgmental of the idea that God speaks to anyone. So it goes....
I grew up hearing the mantra that God just doesnt do it that way anymore. That He only does small miracles, that He only communicates through His Word, that Apostles, healing, and gifts and dynamis were a short term, limited time event. And though it wasn’t said in so many words, of course God speaks to and thru the “man of God”.
I always had an issue with the idea that God was a limited time miracle worker, and that the biblical examples where God does supernatural things through ordinary men and women were restricted to a short period of time and that the power and ability just gradually faded away for some unexplainable reason.
I finally realized that the main reason for the “no longer existing” gifts, was that there was no evidence of these gifts in the lives and ministry of these ‘men of God’, not because God no longer has the ability or the inclination to do great and mighty things. They simply have no other way of explaining why they don’t have this same connection or dynamis.
One of the reasons that I wade through the early writings is because over and over, I find proof that current theology (especially in this case) that has been handed down by faithful men, is more a matter of regifted ignorance than thus sayeth the Lord or His Word. From what I’ve seen, even after the Apostles passed on, the early church considered certain men to be apostles and they certainly recorded many instances of miracles that were reminiscent of the biblical accounts of miracles long after this purported short period ended.
This is not intended to be an attack against anyone here who has different opinions, and I for sure don’t have the answers to this debate. I do know what cant be proven and I’ve found nothing scripturally or otherwise to give validity to the idea that apostles or prophets or any of the other gifts are done away with.
I’m not saying that I’ve got the answers to how God does what He does. I don’t know if there are men today who would qualify as an apostle or a prophet, and I’m pretty leery of those who claim to be, but to limit Him in this way, with no other evidence than the inability of men today to be the kind of men that God would choose to show Himself mighty through is IMO extraordinarily short sighted.
Perhaps its counterintuitive, I definitely believe that God could send an apostle or prophet, but if I saw someone who claimed that title, I’d be more inclined to move that mountain, a spoonful at a time, than to give their message credibility.
Disclaimer: I am not a big fan of the Charismatics or their views on this topic.
As always, peace, love and all the fuzzy stuff for my bros.
I always had an issue with the idea that God was a limited time miracle worker, and that the biblical examples where God does supernatural things through ordinary men and women were restricted to a short period of time and that the power and ability just gradually faded away for some unexplainable reason.
I finally realized that the main reason for the “no longer existing” gifts, was that there was no evidence of these gifts in the lives and ministry of these ‘men of God’, not because God no longer has the ability or the inclination to do great and mighty things. They simply have no other way of explaining why they don’t have this same connection or dynamis.
One of the reasons that I wade through the early writings is because over and over, I find proof that current theology (especially in this case) that has been handed down by faithful men, is more a matter of regifted ignorance than thus sayeth the Lord or His Word. From what I’ve seen, even after the Apostles passed on, the early church considered certain men to be apostles and they certainly recorded many instances of miracles that were reminiscent of the biblical accounts of miracles long after this purported short period ended.
This is not intended to be an attack against anyone here who has different opinions, and I for sure don’t have the answers to this debate. I do know what cant be proven and I’ve found nothing scripturally or otherwise to give validity to the idea that apostles or prophets or any of the other gifts are done away with.
I’m not saying that I’ve got the answers to how God does what He does. I don’t know if there are men today who would qualify as an apostle or a prophet, and I’m pretty leery of those who claim to be, but to limit Him in this way, with no other evidence than the inability of men today to be the kind of men that God would choose to show Himself mighty through is IMO extraordinarily short sighted.
Perhaps its counterintuitive, I definitely believe that God could send an apostle or prophet, but if I saw someone who claimed that title, I’d be more inclined to move that mountain, a spoonful at a time, than to give their message credibility.
Disclaimer: I am not a big fan of the Charismatics or their views on this topic.
As always, peace, love and all the fuzzy stuff for my bros.
Personally, I think it's a function of modern corporate culture that we tend to think in terms of Titles and Offices. If we instead think in terms of job descriptions and demonstrated competence, it gets easier to make sense of the NT teaching.
The closest we get to thinking of this correctly is probably with teachers. Anybody who teaches is a teacher. Some are better in some ways than others, and because teaching is a two-way communication, some teachers are better for some learners and other teachers are better for other learners (so there's not a simple scorecard that we can use to measure "who's the best teacher" - best for whom, on what subject matter, for what kind of setting? etc). But all those who teach are teachers, for better or worse.
Not a lot of teachers in the body of Christ insist upon being referred to as a Teacher, and they don't claim some kind of positional authority because they've actually had some success at teaching. They just dig teaching and are good at it and people seem to be blessed by it, so they keep on keepin on. (Our own VV76 comes to mind....)
A lot of people are functional shepherds in the body of Christ, even if they don't claim the title Pastor (and maybe all the more functional because they don't claim the title...). Again, it's the work that's being done, not the Title/Office, that matters. (Anybody besides me ever known any Pastors that are spectacularly terrible shepherds?...)
Paul captures this idea when he tells Timothy "do the work of an evangelist and prove your ministry". I don't think 2000 years ago there would have been a staff position at a church where Timothy could have been an Evangelist and pulled down a high five-figure salary while being a professional Christian and selling lots of books ('cause after all, he's the authority because he's an Evangelist). Timothy just did the work of an evangelist, and that was the proof of his ministry. He would have considered that a job description, maybe a calling, but not a Title.
The prophet and the apostle are the same. Those who foretell are prophets, those who are sent out with a commission are apostles. Focus on the work, not the Title and any presumed Authority that would flow from that Title.
It cripples our understanding that we buy into the transliteration fallacy. If we thought of the gifts of God to the body as heralds, foretellers, good-news-messengers, shepherds, and teachers, we'd be better off, and it would make more sense, and we'd probably have a lot less of these kinds of discussions.
From time to time God will speak to those who are attentively waiting upon Him. Paul's admonition to have two or three prophets speak in the assembly and the others judge is what keeps it on the rails. Pew-jumping charismaniacs who think every stray thought or emotion that crosses their consciousness is a 'word from the Lord' need not apply.
Just trying to keep you guessing Andrew...
Jk
What I am getting at is that those incidents recorded for us in the Old Testament are exceptional, not the least of which is the still small voice. These things are descriptive, not prescriptive. If we are going to use these narratives in the Old Testament to tell us what is the most likely way for God to speak to us, it seems as if He is more likely to speak to us from a naked prophet or a pillar of smoke. He spoke through those two things far more than through a still small voice.
Here is the other thing i was getting at.
From scriptural examples it doesn’t seem like God needs people to be expecting Him to speak. If He wants to tell you something He tells ya, end of story. Again, if we are going to use Old Testament narratives to tell us how God is going to speak to us, it will be unexpectedly while we are threshing wheat or leading our actual sheep through a desert, minding our own business. The deeper point i am making here is that these things that are recorded for us in the Old Testament are not to be allegorized and aplied to our own lives, the way so many churches do. The scriptures testify of Jesus Christ. When many pastors read these accounts their first tendency is to say “how does this apply to our lives? What is my burning bush, what is my cave that I’m hiding in while I’m waiting to hear the still small voice?”. That’s none sense. Applying it this way makes it so that you can make it say almost anything you want. The Book is about Him, it’s pointing to Him. We would be better served every time we read these accounts to try to find the connection to The Messiah rather than saying “oh that’s how God is going to speak to me”.