Introduction:
We live in the information age with tremendous technological advancements in the field of communications. Almost everyone in the world has access to television, cell phones, computers and the internet. We have the choice to decide what radio frequency we listen to or what television channel we watch. The most widely used media today to share information is social media but what we often see and hear is not the truth. All the advances in information technology is nothing compared to God’ way of communication. When God speaks, His message is always the truth. It is directed to the right person, the right way and at precisely the right time but He leaves us the choice to decide whether or not to listen to His voice.
Step One: The voice of God
a) The voice of the world
The voice of the Lord is audible to those who “pay attention to His words and incline their ear to His sayings”. (Prov. 4:20) Technology has been widely used today to make people focus their attention on what the world is saying rather than on what God is saying. The world is able to drown out the voice of God because of our greed, our love of money, and our desire to achieve fame and power. We respect, admire and celebrate the wealthy no matter the source of their wealth.
b) The voice of the devil
The devil is also using technology to steal, kill and destroy. He is stealing our youth, killing and murdering innocent people and destroying lives. The devil desires to destroy the sanctity of marriage by introducing same sex marriages and the sanctity of the life of the unborn child.
c) The voice of the Lord
The Lord speaks to His creation through His Word. He speaks to us through the lives of His servants and during our trials and difficulties. He speaks to us during our times of fellowship, praise, worship and prayer.
Illustration:
The Voice of the Lord is the Word of God and speaks to our heart and mind. In the time of Samuel “the word of the Lord was rare and there was no widespread revelation” due to the corruption of spiritual leadership and the disobedience of the people. The sons of Eli, the priest, showed their lack of respect for the holiness of God by sleeping with the women who worked at the entrance to the Tabernacle. Eli did nothing about their behaviour and their transgressions disqualified them from serving the Lord in the Temple. God needed a new prophet to replace them and Hannah met God’s will when she prayed and promised to dedicate her son, who was yet to be born, to the service of God. Hannah fulfilled her promise and Samuel served in the tabernacle under Eli, who taught him what he had failed to teach his own sons. At God’s appointed time He called Samuel to lead His people. At the time Samuel was not familiar with the voice of the Lord and through Eli he learnt how to respond to God’s voice. Samuel responded to God’s call and became a trustworthy servant of God.
Application:
As believers our focus should be on the Word of God. They are life and healing to us when we keep them in our hearts. Let us shift our focus from wealth, fame and power to God’s Word that is able to take care of all our needs.
Step Two: The revelation of God
a) God reveals His identity
The voice of God is the Word of God and the Word of God is the revelation of God. God reveals His identity in His Word. God’s Word reveals Jesus Christ as the Messiah. When Jesus declared that “the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28) He was saying that He is the Messiah.
b) God reveals His will
God reveals His will in His Word. His will is to die for the salvation of man and that believers proclaim that Christ paid the penalty for sin for our salvation and that we are “saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God”. (Eph. 2:8)
c) God reveals our new identity
God reveals our new identity in Christ in His Word. In Christ we are a new Creation with the Holy Spirit, the power of God, living in us and empowering us to witness about Christ. The Holy Spirit assures us that “He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world”.
Illustration:
The sacrifice of Christ gives life for “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive”. (1Co 15:22) Salvation is only a free gift because Jesus Christ paid the full price for sin. It does not cost us anything but it cost God all He had, His only Son. Jesus Christ took our place and bore the full judgement of God on sin so that we could take His place. He became our sacrifice for the sin offering. Under the Old Covenant the sacrifice for the sin offering had to be repeated over and over again because the judgement of God on sin was far greater than the sacrifice. It pointed to the need for a better sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice that would not have to be repeated. It pointed to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. There Jesus Christ after He had exhausted all the judgement of God on sin cried out “It is finished”. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was far greater than the judgement therefore there was no longer any need for a sacrifice.
Application:
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is more than sufficient to pay the price for our past, present and future sin. Let us value His sacrifice by doing His will in a way that pleases Him.
Step Three: Our status in Christ
a) Makes us God’s beloved children
Christ took our place and paid the penalty for sin to give us a new identity and a new status. We become God’s beloved children. Simply put the Son of God became the Son of man that sons of men may become sons of God. When Christ died on the cross one of His last words were a quotation from Psalm 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46) Jesus was forsaken and rejected so that we might be accepted as God’s beloved children who can come to Him and call Him Father.
b) Makes us the righteousness of God
When Christ took our sinful position, He gave us a new position. We become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We receive a new, holy, and perfect spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer confirms that the spirit of the believer is holy and perfect since the Holy Spirit will not live in any other place.
c) Our status gives us access to the grace of God
Christ has given us a new status that gives us access to the grace of God. The grace of God is God’s undeserved favour to which we have access by faith.
Illustration:
“In the past, God spoke to our ancestors many times and in many ways through the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son, Jesus Christ.” (Heb. ) God has not stopped speaking to us but are we listening? His words are spirit and life and we are to keep them in our hearts for out of the heart are the issues of life.
Application:
God is constantly speaking to us but are we listening to Him? If we have any problem or need let us listen carefully to the Lord. He has already provided the solution but we have to take by faith what grace has already provided.
Conclusion:
The witness of the Spirit confirms the Word of God. He can make us restless and miserable and unable to sleep the way Samuel felt. He can demand what seems strange and degrading to make us deal with our preconceptions and pride as happened to Naaman. When the prophet told Naaman what needed to be done for his healing he turned away because of his pride. However, when he obeyed the prophet and dipped himself seven times in the dirty Jordan River seven he was cleansed from leprosy. Naaman was about to walk away because things had not happened the way he expected as we often do today. We have a preconceived idea of how we want God to behave and so instead of first listening to Him we tell Him want to do and how to do it.
Personal response:
The voice of the Lord leads us in the paths of righteousness. When we refuse to listen to the Lord we miss out on God’s power to transform our hearts and lives. Let us listen to the Lord and obey Him and enjoy life the way God has designed it to be to the praise and glory of Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
