Part 2 (1/2)

Later, the prophet Balaam said, ”I must speak only what G.o.d puts in my mouth.”13 And who can forget when Balaam's talkative donkey received some divine direction of her own?

When Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness, Scripture tells us that still more people could hear the voice of G.o.d: ”Surely the LORD our G.o.d has shown us his glory and his greatness,” they said, ”and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire.”14 G.o.d clearly communicated with Joshua, after his mentor Moses had died. He talked to Gideon, giving the warrior specific instructions about how many (or rather, how few) men to take into battle in order to secure a swift victory.15 Then there was the wife of Manoah, who came to her husband one day and informed him that G.o.d had spoken to her through an angel. She learned she would conceive and give birth to a son-a boy she would name Samson, who would be dedicated to the Lord's work and rescue Israel from the Philistines.16 Young Samuel-another yearned-for child born to a woman in tune with G.o.d's whispers-certainly heard a word from the Lord, as I mentioned in chapter 1. In this same biblical era, G.o.d whispered specific direction to shepherd-turned-king David. According to 2 Samuel 2:1, ”In the course of time, David inquired of the LORD. 'Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?' he asked. The LORD said, 'Go up.' David asked, 'Where shall I go?' 'To Hebron,' the LORD answered.” Specific questions, specific answers.

A lesser known prophet, Micaiah, said, ”As sure as G.o.d lives, what G.o.d says, I'll say.”17 G.o.d even spoke to Satan and then to Job during the well-known story of Job losing it all, only to gain far more from G.o.d.

The prophet Isaiah testified to the presence of G.o.d's still, small voice. ”Whether you turn to the right or to the left,” he told the people of Jerusalem, ”your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'”18 Earlier in the book of Isaiah, the prophet responded to G.o.d's whisper with now-famous words. ”Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then said I, 'Here am I; send me.'”19 That one whisper alone has compelled many Christ-followers across the globe to leave the lives they know and avail themselves of an adventure that could only be orchestrated by G.o.d. I've known executives, accountants, mechanics, teachers, doctors, full-time students, at-home moms and people who fill almost every other profession imaginable who one day decide to radically s.h.i.+ft gears in favor of following a whisper from G.o.d. Leaving the lives they knew behind, they embark on a journey that only G.o.d himself could have dreamed up. ”Here I am, Lord. Send me!”-it's a powerful prayer to pray.

This same prophet Isaiah said of G.o.d's whispers: ”The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. The Sovereign LORD has opened my ear; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away.”20 It seems G.o.d prepared another prophet, Jeremiah, early in life to pay attention to heaven-sent wisdom he would receive along the way: ”But the LORD said to me, 'Do not say, I am too young.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.”21 G.o.d has spoken clearly to many of his followers: ”Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.”22 SWEEPING INTO THE NEW TESTAMENT, G.o.d SPOKE TO THE elderly priest Zechariah through the angel Gabriel, who delivered good news: Zechariah would soon father a son, John the Baptist, who would be called the greatest human ever to live.23 The same angel then spoke to Mary, the mother of Jesus. ”The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.'”24 An angel spoke to a jittery Joseph in a dream, telling him not to be afraid to take a very pregnant Mary as his wife.25 And G.o.d communicated in multi-part harmony-through angels, shepherds and prophets-to announce the birth of his Son, Jesus Christ. He spoke to shepherds through an angel: ”Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”26 G.o.d spoke to his own Son as well. ”As soon as Jesus was baptized,” says Matthew 3:16a17, ”he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of G.o.d descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'”

John 1:1 refers to Jesus as ”the Word,” and through the Messiah incarnate, G.o.d would whisper countless times-to city officials, religious leaders, tax collectors, fis.h.i.+ng-industry workers, hardworking moms and more. Even the natural world received its fair share of input, such as when Jesus said to the storm, ”Be still!”27 As you'd expect, the storm obeyed.

Jesus spoke to his disciples the unknowable truth about the death of Mary and Martha's brother. ”So Jesus then said to them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.'”28 G.o.d spoke clear, practical instruction to Philip. ”Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Go south to the road-the desert road-that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.'”29 Later in the book of Acts, G.o.d spoke to Peter while the apostle was on the roof waiting for lunch. G.o.d said, ”Do not call anything impure that G.o.d has made clean.”30 The leaders of the early church understood G.o.d's propensity to whisper. After making a decision concerning the Gentiles' entry into the church, Scripture records their words, ”It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us...”31 G.o.d sometimes spoke through the evidence of divine providence. In Acts 16:7, the author writes, ”When they [Paul and his traveling companions] came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.”

During an awful storm that caused his s.h.i.+p to go down, the apostle Paul heard from the Lord, and addressed the pa.s.sengers and crew: ”Last night an angel of the G.o.d whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and G.o.d has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.' So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in G.o.d that it will happen just as he told me.”32 And it did.

Both Paul and Peter understood their roles to include the responsibility of speaking for G.o.d. Paul wrote, ”But we speak the wisdom of G.o.d in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which G.o.d ordained before the world unto our glory.”33 ”For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of G.o.d: but as of sincerity, but as of G.o.d, in the sight of G.o.d speak we in Christ.”34 G.o.d spoke to the apostle Paul during an especially long and dark night of the soul. ”Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take [the thorn in my flesh] away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'”35 The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that G.o.d speaks to us through his Son. ”In the past G.o.d spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.”36 In 1 Peter 4:11 (NIV), we read this counsel from one man who lived wide open to G.o.d: ”If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of G.o.d...so that in all things G.o.d may be praised through Jesus Christ.”

And finally, G.o.d spoke to his church through the advocacy of the Holy Spirit. The Message transliteration of Revelation 2:7 says this: Are your ears awake?

Listen.

Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.

I'm about to call each conqueror to dinner.

I'm spreading a banquet of Tree-of-Life fruit, a supper plucked from G.o.d's orchard.

Listen to the ”Wind Words,” that verse suggests-the whispered promptings of G.o.d. Still today he is speaking, as evidenced by John 14:26: ”The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

It is by these whispers, John 15:5 says, that we are led toward a productive and fruitful life. By the still, small voice of G.o.d, our lives are flooded with personal a.s.surance, correction, insight, guidance from above.37 By our heavenly Father's wisdom, we are directed, aided, changed and eventually grown up.38 And aren't you and I both grateful for that!

If there is a pattern in Scripture regarding whispers, it is that we serve a communicating G.o.d-a G.o.d of words. He created with a word, he healed with a word, he encouraged with a word, he rebuked with a word, he guided with a word, he prophesied with a word, he a.s.sured with a word, he loved with a word, he served with a word and he comforted with a word. Throughout all of history, G.o.d has communicated, and he still is at it today. The issue isn't whether or not G.o.d is speaking; it's whether we will have ears to hear what he says.

As I hope you have seen in this little trek through biblical history, Scripture is packed with powerful texts that demonstrate the whispering ways of G.o.d. But perhaps my favorite is the story of a murderer-turned-minister, a man known to us as the apostle Paul.

For the majority of his early days, Paul went by the name of Saul, a righteous Pharisee consumed with bitterness and rage toward people of ”the Way,” as Christ-followers were known in those days. Saul hated Christians and everything they stood for, and he plotted to find legal ways to have them arrested or even killed. One morning, his revulsion having reached fever pitch, he decided to pay a visit to Damascus, home of many converts to Christianity. Before departing, Saul asked the high priest in Jerusalem for permission to capture and perhaps kill any Christians he happened to encounter along the way. ”Permission granted,” Saul must have thought. ”Nothing can stop me now!”

Little did he know, a minor diversion awaited him as the Damascan skyline came into view.

Acts 9 tells the tale of Saul and his entourage riding along the road, when suddenly a bright, terrifying light from heaven consumes Saul, knocks him off his horse and throws him to the ground. Once he catches his breath, he tries to get his feet back under him. But the task gets a little more complicated when Saul discovers he can no longer see.

Some texts refer to the light that blinded Saul that day as possessing the brightness of the sun-think of the piercing intensity of a welder's torch, and then multiply that by a thousand. Understandably, the concentration of that shaft of light sent Saul staggering to the sand, which is precisely where he received whisper number one from G.o.d. ”Saul, Saul,” a voice said, ”why do you persecute me?”39 Face down on the ground and blind, Saul had no idea where the voice came from. ”Lord, who are you?”40 he asked. It was a reasonable question, really. ”I am Jesus Christ” came the declaration in response, ”the one you have been persecuting!”41 Jesus might as well have added, ”I am alive and well, thank you very much. I am resurrected, and here I am, with you on this road. And today, my friend, I have a few things I'd like to say.”

NOW, ANOTHER PART OF THIS STORY ADDS CRITICAL DIMEN-sion to its plot. In the same city of Damascus, where Jesus told Saul to go and await further instructions, there lived a man named Ananias, who likely was on Paul's short list of people to capture and kill; Ananias was not only a Christ-follower, but a devoted one at that.

Acts 9:10a12 says that G.o.d spoke to Ananias in a vision, telling him to go to Saul and deliver a message. G.o.d even provides the address where Saul is staying-the house of Judas on Straight Street. ”He's there praying,” G.o.d explained. ”He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter the house and lay hands on him so he could see again” (MSG).

G.o.d may have been calm, cool and collected about the whole deal, but Ananias thought differently of things. ”Hey, G.o.d,” he essentially said, ”I don't know if you've neglected to keep up with the daily news or what, but Saul's name is all over the headlines. He's a terrorist, and the whole reason he's in town is to destroy the church that I attend. If you think I'm going to actually seek him out, well, then one of us is crazy!”

Ananias delineated all of the reasons why his answer to G.o.d's instruction was no, but G.o.d stood by his one-word reply: ”Go.” And Ananias went.

G.o.d instructed Ananias to tell Saul that Saul was a ”chosen instrument,” that he would be used to proclaim the name of Christ to many people, and that in doing so, he would suffer greatly for Jesus' sake-that's it, just three little messages that needed to be delivered-by a Christian, to the greatest Christian-hater of the day.

HAD SAUL NOT OBEYED HIS WHISPER FROM G.o.d, ANANIAS could not have obeyed the one he himself received. Back on the road to Damascus as Saul lay there blinded by the light, G.o.d had issued him a triad of instructions, as well: ”Get up, Saul. Go into the city. And wait.”

Saul now had a decision to make. What would he do with the direction he'd been given? He's a tough guy-should he just stand up, shake his fist at heaven and say, ”Is that your best shot?”

In perhaps the wisest move of Saul's life to that point, he chose the other path. The text says that he rose, he was led into the city by his band of brothers (who were probably shocked to be leading their once-fearless, now-helpless leader), and he waited for whatever would happen next.

I am convinced that one of the major reasons a one-time terrorist wound up becoming one of the most impactful Christian leaders in history is because he chose the path of obedience. On day one, when Jesus asked him to do three little things, he did them. And that step of initial obedience began a pattern of submission to the will and ways of G.o.d. Despite the eventual respect among believers that Saul-now Paul-would come to enjoy, the apostle Paul never got too seasoned, sophisticated or smart to do anything less than that which Jesus whispered for him to do. How I wish the same always could be said of me!

There are seasons when I am ”meticulously obedient” to the will and whispers of G.o.d, and then there are times when I'm sure I know a better way. Still, I try to keep coming back to my heavenly Father with open hands, an open heart and a keener interest in whatever insights he is willing to share. ”G.o.d, if there is something you would like me to do,” I prayed recently, ”then please say so. It doesn't matter what it is; I'll do it.”

Wouldn't you know it? He actually took me up on that prayer.

Lynne and I had just come from a funeral home across town after saying our final farewells to my aunt. As we approached our car, I spotted a frail, elderly woman pulling into the nearby apartment complex. She parked her car and began to slowly and laboriously pull grocery bags out of her trunk. ”How about helping that woman with her groceries?” the Holy Spirit seemed to prompt.

I initially brushed past the whisper because Lynne was with me and we were ready to go. But I had just made that offer to G.o.d, ”If there is something you would like me to do...” I knew I had to comply.

”Lynne,” I said, ”I've got this little pact going with G.o.d, and I need to go help that woman with her groceries for a minute...”

My wife tried to conceal her dumbfounded expression, but I saw it peeking through. You probably know the look, the one that says, ”You? Living at your pace? Helping someone you don't even know? Wow. It must be G.o.d.”

I approached the elderly woman. ”Can I give you a hand with your groceries?” I asked.

”Oh, yes! Thank you!” she said, relieved.

The driveway leading back to her apartment recently had been seal-coated and was roped off, meaning residents had to walk a few hundred yards just to get from their cars to their homes. I knew that this small act of kindness would honor G.o.d and help meet a real need; what I didn't know was that those grocery sacks boasted thirty pounds of fresh peaches each.

Pretending the added weight didn't affect me a bit, I said, ”All set here. You lead the way.”

She began winding through backyards that had become swamps due to recent rains, but drenched dress shoes would be the least of my worries that afternoon. The woman was extremely arthritic and slow-moving. On top of that, she had some sort of emphysema that forced us to take a breather every forty-five seconds or so. It took us a full thirty minutes to make our way to her apartment, and by the time we arrived, we were tight. I had learned more about this dear woman's life than I could ever have hoped to know.

We entered her modest home, and I made my way to the kitchen, where I set the sacks on the counter before turning to shake her hand and then let myself out through the front door. The woman left her bony, wrinkled hand in mine long after the handshake was done. ”I will believe to my dying day that G.o.d sent you to help me just now,” she said.

The whole deal felt so inglorious-the wet feet, the longer-than-expected trek, the lack of any earth-shattering results-and yet as I walked away from the apartment complex, something in my spirit felt right. G.o.d had whispered a simple instruction my way, and this time I had actually slowed down enough to listen. There is no greater feeling in the world than to hear-and heed-G.o.d's voice.

I often talk with people around Willow or in the community who are exploring the Christian faith. During those conversations, it is not uncommon for me to hear tales about how they are going about their normal daily routines when ”weird stuff” starts happening to them. They report feeling restless in life or less satisfied with the direction they're headed. The ”fun” they used to have doesn't feel quite as fun anymore. They grow weary of the way things are and wonder if there might be more to life. And typically it's in a moment like this when they finally agree to come to church.

On some occasions, I'll ask folks like these, ”Do you think anyone is orchestrating those ideas that float through your mind? I mean, do you think your thoughts are just random, or is it possible that G.o.d is trying to communicate to you in some way?”

Usually, they think it's all random. Which usually is when I beg to differ.