Discerning God’s Voice Among Other Voices

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 2 Kings 11:1-3

In this chapter, King Solomon married many foreign women. These foreign women brought their gods along with their customs, rituals, high places and sacrifices into Solomon’s life.

The Moabite women brought Chemosh, their god, and his rituals.

The Ammonite women brought Molek, their god, and his rituals.

Around 500 of the 700 royal wives King Solomon had were from other countries. He constructs a high place for each foreign wife (2 Kings 11:8). Solomon had built at least 300 high places for foreign gods. At each high place, King Solomon burned incense and offered sacrifices. So, King Solomon burned incense and offered sacrifices at minimum of 300 high places.

It all began with the expansion or enlargement of King Solomon’s realm. King Solomon signed peace agreements in order to grow his empire. Peace agreements followed a policy of compromise and adjustment with God’s Law. Expansion at the compromise of God’s law or standard will result in devastation.

Along with the Lord God, at least 100 other gods(300 high places might be for 100 gods approximately) were present in Solomon’s life. Solomon adjusted himself to make sacrifices at 100 high places of foreign gods as well as the Lord God’s temple. In this place of adjustment to other gods, Solomon lost his dependency on Lord God.

Solomon had 100 idols of foreign gods and 1 temple of true God in his heart. Each foreign god has an idol with a distinct voice. At a time, there could be 101 different voices (100 voices of foreign gods and 1 voice of God) in Solomon’s heart. In a time of need, he could hear many different voices because of these foreign gods.

In between all these voices, King Solomon lost the ability to recognize/discern God’s voice. Sometimes King Solomon was led by the false voices. As Solomon lost the discernment to hear God’s voice, he was unable to understand God’s rebuke and reproach (2 Kings 11:11). King Solomon lost the ability to discern the Lord’s voice among other voices which led to his downfall.

Like King Solomon, we are in a similar situation today. Solomon had lot of idols; we have lot of pet sins. These pet sins have created many idols in our heart. Some examples of pet sins are sin of lust, lies, greed, jealously, etc. Every sin has a distinct voice. Sin of lust has voice of self-gratification, greed has voice of gain, pride has a voice of increased self-awareness, etc.

We are unable to discern/recognize the voice of the Lord God among so many voices of sin. As a result, we are not able to hear the Lord’s correction, guidance, rebuke and instruction. We would stumble without the Lord’s voice directing and guarding us. Without discernment of Lord God’s voice, we are led by sin or false voices.

False voices deviate us away from God’s purposes and onto a confusing, directionless road. Because we can’t recognize the Lord’s voice in difficult situations, we follow false voices and make mistakes. There will be confusion and no direction when we follow false voices.

If you are facing a difficulty to discern God’s voice, ask God to give the ability to discern God’s voice. Ask God also to reveal and break the idols in the heart. Once each idol breaks, it will be clearer to hear and discern God’s voice.