He Speaks To You!
The God of the Universe Knows You by Name
Many years ago, while teaching a bible study there was a discussion of hearing God’s voice. Some in the room were comfortable with the topic and some looked like they were clueless to the idea. One lady commented that as a lifelong Catholic (we were not in a Catholic church at the time) she felt that God spoke only to the pastors and priests, and she was not one of them, so God did not ever speak to her. In that same timeframe, while working with at risk youth in a detention facility, one of the girls walked into my class with a tee-shirt that read “THE VOICES IN MY HEAD ARE TELLING ME TO EAT CHOCOLATE.”
Voices in our head!
We all have them. Some are our own thoughts driven by current situations, some are thoughts based on patterns of thinking developed in surviving life, some are past traumas we hold, some are the enemy, and yes, some are God! But how do we know? How do we separate all the competing voices and hone into the One True Voice that brings us freedom? Good Question! The God who created you, knows you intimately, therefore as He speaks to you and reveals Himself in your life it will be in a way that is unique to you. However, there are a few places in scripture that offer up parameters and paradigms for those who seek.
Psalm 45 is considered a Royal Psalm written for the wedding of a king and his bride. It is debated as to which king it was written for, but regardless it was used at subsequent royal weddings through history. On this side of the Cross, New Covenant believers recognize the visual of a bride entering marriage with her king, as the body of believers in the Kingdom of God is often referred to as the Bride of Christ. The Psalm is written in four parts. The poet speaks (vs. 1), The praise of the Groom (vs. 2-8), The praise of the bride (vs. 9-16), and the concluding words of the poet (vs. 17). In the charge given to the bride verse 10 reads,
This verse contains nuggets of truth for examining our life of communing with Holy Spirit, let’s pull it apart.
To HEAR
It seems that hearing has become a lost practice in our world of words. Maybe it is because of the toxic political climate and manipulative spin all around that we would rather tune out the noise, but we’ve lost the art of listening. According to Webster, the word “hear” involves perceiving a sound, or being informed of something. While the word listen involves giving what you hear your attention, there is a purposeful act implied when we listen. The word “hear” in this Psalm is a word that embraces both hearing and listening – to perceive a sound and then give it your attention. And it goes even further. It is linked with additional actions of understanding and obeying.
To CONSIDER
The next part of the passage asks us to “consider” what we are hearing. Consideration of a thing invites us to engage our senses to dig deeper, research, see, understand, and inspect a matter. The idea of perceiving and recognizing God’s voice gets a little more complex here. Paul warns us that we are to “…destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…” This is hearing, and listening and considering all rolled up into one verse (2 Corninthians 10:5).
Living our earthly journey, we are constantly making choices based on experiences. We hold experience in our bodies as memories and even traumas that play part in our ability to perceive, recognize and even comprehend God’s voice. The enemy of our sous speaks to us through those traumas and drowns out or distracts us from pressing in and considering what voice is dark and what voice calls us to light. Paul says we are to “destroy” those thoughts. That takes consideration on our part.
INCLINE YOUR EAR
The psalmist summons us closer still. To incline the ear is the practice of purposeful listening first by reducing the chatter and taking action to turn aside thoughts that are not helpful. To not dwell on the negative, to get off the hamster wheel of your own thought process and train your mind to seek the highway of Holiness that God has laid out for you. It is leaning away from the noise of worldly talk and engaging in the conversation of heaven. It is not a natural choice that will come easy, it is an uncomfortable choice that promises supernatural results. It is the power of renewing our minds (Romans 8:5-8, 12:2, Ephesians 4:23).
FORGET…
The full phrase is “forget your people and your father’s house.” To forget the past, oh what a task that is, some say impossible, some just don’t want to, some are just comfortable there. However, this word forget is not just about burying a memory, it is a word that means that as we do the above (hear/listen, consider and incline) we are invited as the bride in new encounters with her groom. These new encounters rewire our paradigms, thoughts and perceptions and we no longer need to be mindful of the past. It is a journey of relationship with God into healing, into wholeness, into peace, out of grief and into joy.
He Speaks – We are changed!
When the apostle Paul is first introduced to us in the book of Acts (chapters 7,8 & 9), his given name is Saul, and he is killing believers in Christ. He is present at the stoning of Stephen and is deaf to the voice of God controlled by his religious Pharisee thought paradigms so all he could see was that New Covenant believers were a threat to his faith. It took a violent encounter with the Spirit of Yahweh that blinded him physically, so he could see the truth. He literally got to SEE THE LIGHT! The next 17 years of his life would include doing a lot of HEARING, LISTENING, INCLINING AND FORGETTING. He had to be completely rewired and overhauled by Holy Spirit to transform from the man Saul to the Lords Apostle we know as Paul. (see Galatians 1:15-2:1)
After Christ was resurrected, he appeared to his disciples in the upper room, however one of them was not there. We know him as Doubting Thomas. Jesus returned and revealed himself to Thomas for Thomas’s sake. However, the most remarkable part of the story is in the response of Thomas. He replies, “You are my Lord, and You are my God,” (John 20:29 The Passion Translation). Thomas the doubter becomes Thomas the believer by encountering anew and forgetting what was past.
Finally, my favorite comes also from the book of John on the morning of Jesus Resurrection. It tells us that Mary Magdalene, the woman that Jesus had healed of many demons (lots of voices in her head) came to find the tomb empty. She was upset and saw Jesus who she did not recognize and assumed he was the gardener. She asked this man where they had taken her Lord and Jesus interrupts her by simply saying her name…” Mary.” (John 20:1-16) At the speaking of her name every cell in her being came alive again! She was moved from grief to joy by hearing His voice.
He still speaks today!
He invites us into encounter!
He invites us to hear – and listen!
He invites us to consider!
He invites us to forget!
Revelation 22:17 says “The Spirit and the Bride say “Come.” Let the one who hears say “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”
He calls you by name…will you listen?
Kammy
For further reading on how Trauma effects on the body here are a couple of highly recommended reading materials.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.