Hearing the Voice of the Lord

As I continue my daily journey through the Word of God—the Bible—I try to pay close attention to the many ways God speaks to His people. Nearly fifty years of pastoral ministry have convinced me that we serve a God who still speaks to His children in many ways.

Over the years, individuals have come into my office and told me that God had spoken to them and instructed them to take a certain action. As the conversation unfolded, it often became clear that they had not truly heard from God, because the “voice” they claimed to hear and the actions they intended to take did not align with the Word of God.

Henry Blackaby, in his discipleship course Experiencing God, teaches that God speaks to His children in at least three ways: through His Word (the Holy Bible), through circumstances, and through other people who may know nothing of our situation. But however He chooses to speak, His message will always be consistent with the revelation He has given us in His written Word. I can honestly say that, over the years, I have heard God’s voice in all three of these ways.

One reason I desperately need the fellowship of the Body of Christ—the local church—is that God has spoken to me many times through the timely words of a brother or sister in Christ. More often than not, they had no idea they were being used as the voice of God. Yet in their words, I heard confirmation of what I was already sensing through Scripture and my circumstances.

Allow me to share one event that literally saved my ministry. During the 1980s, I was serving as the senior pastor of a church in Moab, Utah. For reasons only God fully knows, I went through a very dark season during that time, and my heart was filled with deep discouragement. It may have been the first time I seriously contemplated leaving the ministry, convinced that there must be an easier way to make a living.

One morning, during this time in “the valley,” my phone rang. A woman from my church insisted that she needed to speak with me as soon as possible. To be honest, I was in no mood for conversation. However, I also knew she would not take no for an answer, so I got in my car and drove to her house.

When I arrived, she seemed reluctant to tell me what she needed to share. She feared I would think she had gone off the deep end—spiritually speaking. She began by saying she had a dream in which the Lord Jesus was standing at the foot of her bed, giving her a message to pass along to me. Here is where she grew visibly nervous. Finally, she said, “Jesus told me to tell Pastor Wayne that everything is going to be alright.”

As soon as she spoke those words, I broke down in tears. She had no way of knowing the valley I was walking through. She had no details upon which to base her message. Yet her words struck me like a sledgehammer.

This woman—whom I will call Hazel—was not someone prone to dramatic spiritual experiences or pronouncements. In fact, if someone had asked me, “Who in the church is most likely to hear a message from God?” she would have been at the bottom of my list.

But her words, combined with my Bible reading and the circumstances I was facing, convinced me that she had indeed heard from God and had been used to deliver a message to her pastor. Almost immediately, the weight on my heart lifted, and the darkness surrounding my mind and emotions began to part.

To my knowledge, Hazel never had another experience like that one. But in that particular moment, she was a chosen messenger of the Lord, bringing hope and freedom to her struggling pastor.

That moment with Hazel has stayed with me all these years because it revealed the tenderness of a God who knows exactly what His servants need. He spoke through His Word, through my circumstances, and through a woman who had no idea how deeply her obedience would impact my life. Whenever I am tempted to doubt or grow weary, I remember that morning and take heart. The God who spoke then is the God who speaks still.