Wind Blows Deeply

Recently, a friend ask how I knew it was God speaking to me in a certain situation. I thought it might be useful for others and have posted an edited version here.

Knowing God’s voice is something that has taken me quite a long time and remains something I am not very good at. Two things have helped: knowing that everything happens for a reason and faith.

The first does not refer to some type of abstract cerebral knowing; this is the knowing of experience that comes with hindsight. I have seen the puzzle pieces come together months and even years later. There are other situations that I still don’t understand but I chalk it up to not been able to see enough of the overall picture.

Although faith could appear to be the same as “everything for a reason”, I see it a little differently. “Everything for a reason” focuses on the outcome, whether it be desirable or undesirable, and how to reconcile this outcome into my worldview. Desirableness (rather than good or bad) is a condition of my perspective, understanding and selfishness.

Faith itself has more to do with process than endpoint — a verb rather than a noun. Words like assurance and trust might bring you closer to my intent. Essentially, that I set out on a path and rely on God to meet a need. I will share an example. When I was trying to figure out what to in university, I came upon two options: become a pharmacist or teach English francophone Canada. They both seemed equally interesting, so I prepared, applied and awaited the outcome. I did as much as I could on my own first, then told God that I would trust Him to provide direction; whichever opportunity I was accepted into first would be where I would go. For whatever reason, let’s call it faith, I assumed that both paths would be open to me. I was put on a waiting list to teach English. Then, a month or so later, I got my acceptance letter into pharmacy one evening. The next morning was a phone call with an opening to teach English. Pharmacy came first, so that’s what I did — trusting it was divine orchestration.

There are a few things that I think can help in knowing God’s voice is His.
1) Bible reading. I am horribly inconsistent with this. However, in the last few months, it has been slightly more regular. The point here is that I need to understand who God actually is. What is His character? How does He normally act? Can people change His “mind”? What is His desired outcome for you, the situation, and all of creation?
2) Prayer (and revelation). I am only slightly more consistent with this. I view prayer as a conversation. Sure, I think God can speak to me through other means (God reveals himself in nature, through other people, in Biblical texts, in dreams and visions, through circumstance). Prayer, as a basic form of communication, seems a logical forum if you anticipate it to go two ways. Often prayer time can be mostly me talking and not much of me listening.
3) Understanding God’s calling. This is partly related to spiritual gifts but also interests, passions, and trades/skills. Buechner says “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
4) Other Christians. Essentially this is discernment, an outside set of eyes on your situation. If there is doubt about whose voice it is (God’s, yours, other), then someone else should be approached for their insight or interpretation. Chances are, they are going to use the points I have already discussed: does the purported statement from God align with His character and purposes?

For my situation in particular, there are a few things that have helped me know this was God’s voice.

How have I heard God in the past?
I’ve described the orchestration of events in the pharmacist vs. teaching English scenario.
I have regularly been given words or themes from God over the past ten years or so. It began during a leadership retreat during which we each took the afternoon to read, reflect and pray. Hunger/thirst & fasting (Isaiah 58) » dependency » come/draw near/be in presence » wait (Lam 3:25) » prepare (Esther / Nehemiah).

Knowing my calling
My calling is to serve people. That’s how I view my job as a pharmacist. In addition to having the skills and knowledge needed for this job, I treat it as my calling to serve. (Profession/vocation come from the Latin vocare “to call” … having been called by God to do this thing. The theme of fasting [Is 58] has also had an impact.)
Africa incorporates both my calling as a pharmacist and my calling to serve others. Africa is also about loving the country: the people, the food, the culture — I feel at home there. It also has a need that I can meet with my training and interest.

Confirmation by others
Before I went to Africa for the first time in 2006, I had a sense that I would be returning. Yet, just before leaving this past February, I awoke one morning with the word “wait” stuck in my head. A few days later, on a park bench in Madrid, God said I was done and to hold off returning. (The conversation itself was similar to the most recent one when I was told I would return…more of an actual conversation than a concept. For me, God has more often given me concepts then conversations.)
A month or so later, at a woman’s I had no intention of initially attending, the message was waiting on God. Again, the concept of waiting appears.
I had no idea what to do while waiting. I started increasing my time in purposeful prayer, waiting on God. After a while, I was reminded of the story of Esther and how she took a whole year to prepare before she went to meet the King. And of Nehemiah who, despite having a vision and a calling to rebuild the wall, continued in his job of cupbearer while planning for a time when he might go.

Everything for a reason
While I knew that at some point I would return, there was some reason that I needed to put my plans on hold. In conversations with other friends, I was reminded that waiting often means something in the bigger picture is going on. God has to do something before I can continue on with my plans, and I may never know what that was.

So when I heard “you will return,” it was both confirmation of something I already knew to be true and the okay to continue planning and preparing to return.

Faith
At the moment, returning to Africa hinges on getting a leave from work. Similarly to my pursuing pharmacy vs. teaching English, I am leaving the when and how long up to God. In essence, I’m letting God use my managers just as He controlled the mail delivery.

Context can be important. I don’t think that I would have been confident at all in knowing it was God’s voice had I not experienced any of the things I had in the past. I certainly can’t say how God will speak to other. It may be audible, a dream, a consistent theme, other people or a quiet thought. What I do feel convinced of is that making efforts to know God more intimately is of utmost importance in all of this.

Additional reading
Yearning, MC Barnes
The Pursuit of God, AW Tozer
Knowing God, JI Packer
Visioneering, A Stanley
Stanley talks about all the things I had already experienced: waiting, prayer, faith, dependency, a willingness to let go of a vision. He also made two statements that seemed to resonate:

“While you are busy about the process of pursuing your vision, something is going on behind the scenes that you are probably not aware of. It’s something you cannot see. It may not become apparent until your work is accomplished. While you are consumed with the nuts and bolts of your vision, God is at work on a parallel plan that will ultimately complement and give deeper significance to the vision or visions that absorb your attention.”

“More important than the fulfillment of your vision is the fulfillment of God’s vision for you. As his child, he envisions you as having matured in your thinking, faith, and conduct to the point where you could be considered conformed to the image of Christ.Someone whose character, perspective, and behaviour reflects that of the Saviour.”

Celebration of Discipline, R Foster

Human beings seem to have a perpetual tendency to have someone else talk to God for them. We are content to have the message secondhand.

Be Sociable, Share!

•