While few Christians would really ask this, many find the scriptural account of God’s work in history insufficient as fuel for faith. They seem to need an experiential immediacy not therein promised. Verses are plucked from context to support teaching an intimacy with God on par with prophets and apostles – even when present day inaudible “listening to God” is far different than the accounts of God’s interaction with people in the Bible. Somehow, our adoption by the Father, the imputation of our sin to Christ and his righteousness to us, and all we can look forward to as co-inheritors with Christ in eternity…isn’t quite enough proof that God loves us.
Today, experience trumps doctrine, and “head knowledge” is maligned and pitted against “heart knowledge.” To be sure, no biblical Christian would deny a frequent emotional response to grace, both in the whole redemptive story and in our own, but perilous is the chase for experience, and “feelings” are notoriously bad arbiters of truth. Our dissatisfaction with copious biblical assurances of endless love and sure and certain promises (for His people) forces new teaching calling for “listening” during prayer and “pray about it” decision making – roughly the heavenward equivalent of the “bat phone.”
As always, I could be wrong, and I know I am certainly in the minority in the Christian circles in which I run. I also know God can do anything he wants, and that your personal, anecdotal experience belying my thoughts here are unassailable. I also believe strongly that the Bible doesn’t teach these practices as they are commonly taught today, and that studying the full context of the verses used for proof texts would prove my point.
The problem is that it’s taught that “maturity” means an ability to “discern” God’s mind or voice (as is generally the case), making one of two outcomes is certain. Those who “hear” nothing despair of their faith, wondering why God doesn’t “speak” to them. Others will begin to sanctify their own thoughts (often, not always, biblically informed) with a spectrum of language from the more obtuse (“I feel led…”) to the more certain (“God told me…”). Christening our decisions thusly may sound Godly, but it’s simply moving responsibility for consequences from us to God.
Popular teachers like Beth Moore and Sarah Young (“Jesus Calling”) report these intimate, inaudible conversations they have with God, and attempt to set them below Scripture in value, but ultimately and necessarily devalue Scripture in the process. When one is familiar enough with Scripture, these new revelations (that’s what they are) will sound a lot like God, but to give them His authority is more than troublesome. Study the Scriptures and discover the weightiness of claiming “God said,” and further the consequences when He says, “No, I didn’t.”
If you insist still that God’s speaking to you (outside the Bible), use this test of qualities of His New Testament interactions. Is it rare? Is it intrusive and unsought? Is it unmistakably supernatural (audible/visible visitation)? Is it clear and unambiguous? If it meets those criteria, it has authority and must be obeyed. If not, it may just be your imagination. (Note: thanks to Greg Koukl at str.org for his teaching on this.)
There is a mysterious way that the Holy Spirit leads and guides us, but He doesn’t make our decisions for us. The Word gives us boundaries within which we are free to do as we please. The accounts of God’s sacrificial love for his people in Scripture should be sufficient promise and hope until His return.