Friday's Feature

Is your desire to hear and know God’s voice? You may say, Yes, but He never speaks to me, or Yes, but how would I know if He did speak to me?

Well, He does speak to us, and He wants to do so even more than we allow. Jesus said, And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice (John 10:4). He also said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me (John 10:27).

How does He speak to us? He speaks to us through His written Word (His Word is alive and real, and will speak to anyone who has a heart’s desire and will make the effort to read it and hear it), He speaks directly to our spirit by the Holy Spirit, and He speaks to us through other people. He has many ways of speaking to us, but it is very important to know and remember that He will never speak anything to us that does not agree with His written Word.

So how do we know God’s voice? Well, how do we know another person’s voice? By knowing the person, right? Or at least by hearing that person’s voice enough that we recognize it – an example being that of hearing the voice of a singer or entertainer. Even though we do not really know the person, we know the voice. The better we know someone, such as a companion, a parent, a child, or close friend, the easier it is to know and recognize his or her voice. For instance, when answering a phone call from such, it is very seldom that a need arises to ask who is calling. We just know who it is.

The same is true with God: the more we really know Him – the more time we spend in fellowship and communion with Him – the easier it is to hear and recognize His voice. Our re-born spirit knows the voice of God, but sometimes we suppress our spirit with our flesh, instead of allowing our spirit to rule and have control like we should.

The question sometimes arises, If God speaks to us, why do we not hear Him more? The reason could very possibly be that we have not gotten to really know Him. Therefore, we do not recognize His voice. Or it may be simply because we do not listen: we do not get quiet before Him, turning our hearts and minds solely on and to Him. This may be because we are too busy, too lazy, or because we simply do not have the desire to hear Him.

Another important reason for not hearing God’s voice is hardness of heart, according to Psalm 95:7-8, which says, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness…

This is not just a salvation message, as has sometimes been said, that If you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart and turn away, but yield to Him and be born again. That is good, but that is not all this Scripture is saying. He is talking to Christians, and He said, Today, if you will hear His voice….. Not just If you hear, but If you will hear (if you desire to, if you wish to, if you are going to) do not harden your heart. If your heart is hardened, you are not going to hear God’s voice.

To harden means to make or become hard; not easily penetrated; to make or become stubborn, unfeeling or unsympathetic, (all of which are traits so unlike Jesus).

We usually think of someone who is hardhearted as being someone who is hateful, and who does not care for anyone or anything, and of course, these characteristics do indicate hardness of heart, but let’s look into God’s Word a little more and see some things He refers to as hardness of heart – some things which might come as a surprise.

Hebrews 3:8-10 says, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore, I was angry with that generation, and said, They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways. When God speaks of hardness of heart here, He refers back to His people in the wilderness, when He had brought them out of Egypt, and was taking them to the promised land, and how they rebelled, murmured, and complained, which provoked God. We can read in the Old Testament how they acted and re-acted. They would be fine as long as everything was going their way, but when they were confronted with difficulty, they would start complaining and murmuring against God. They would not trust Him to work things out, but would just look at what appeared to be. They would not remember (or think about) the great works God had already done and believe Him to still provide their needs. They doubted His ability, and many times they were unthankful. (Read Psalm 78.) And God tells us to not harden our hearts like those people, if we will hear His voice.

Jesus also made reference to hardness of heart in Mark 3:1-5: And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. And they (religious people) watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so they might accuse Him. Then He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” And He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. So when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored, as whole as the other.

The hearts of those religious people were not compassionate; they were not concerned about the man with the problem. They were only concerned about their religious laws.

Another example of hardness of heart is found in Mark 6:37-52, it tells how Jesus multiplied five loaves and two fish, and fed a multitude. He then sent His disciples away by ship, and while they were sailing, a wind came against them, causing them to encounter trouble rowing. Jesus walked on the water to get to them, got into the boat, and caused the wind to cease, but when they saw Him, they were afraid because they did not recognize Him, and thought He was a ghost. The Word says they were amazed and wondered, For they considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened.

They had so soon allowed their heart to become hardened after the miracle Jesus had performed, that they didn’t even think about it, so when Jesus (their Helper) came to them, they did not even recognize Him.

How many times do we not remember God’s promises and what He has already done for us, and allow our heart to become hardened? Then when we face difficulty, and He is there to help us, to give us the answer, to give us what we need, we do not recognize it as being Him – we do not recognize His voice, or maybe we do not even hear Him.

So we see that murmuring and complaining, failure to believe God and His Word, and failure to remember His works that He has already done are signs of hardness of heart.

Hebrews 3:12-13 says, Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Here, we are told that unbelief is evil. We seem to think of evil as something really sinful and wicked. We think our heart would never be evil. But notice, this Scripture says to take heed, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

If we start departing from God, by growing lax with our walk with Him, by not spending quality time with Him, by not praising and worshipping Him, by not spending time praying and listening to Him, and by not spending time reading, studying, and meditating the Word, unbelief and doubt will start crowding into our heart. We will not think upon all His goodness, His blessings, and His works. Then when difficulty comes, instead of being so filled with the Word of God, the love of God, faith in Him and His Word, so that we go through victoriously, thoughts of doubt will come: hardness of heart, and the temptation to complain and question God. He will be trying to speak to us, but we cannot hear if our heart is hardened.

Notice, the Scripture says that if we start to depart from God, it is easy for us to be deceived by sin. This can apply to many different areas. If we are not keeping full of God’s Word, things that are not right can begin to seem not so bad. Another area of being deceived by sin is that our words begin to change when our walk with God grows more distant and colder. We begin to speak more negative words – things contrary to God’s Word. We may begin to talk more about problems, calling things as they appear in the natural, instead of saying what God’s Word says, which produces life and good things. You may say, “That’s not sin,” but if we are speaking words of doubt and unbelief instead of speaking faith-filled words, it is sin. Romans 14:23 says that whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Psalm 39:1 says, I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue.

Hardness of heart is a dangerous thing. It will stop us from hearing God’s voice, which we must hear and obey in order to live in His perfect will for us, living in abundant life. Our heart must be pure and tender before God. Proverbs 28:14 says, Happy is the man that feareth always (or is always reverent), but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief (evil, adversity, afflictions).

How do we guard against letting our hearts grow hard?

1. We need to ask God to search our heart and reveal it to us. He does that by His Word and His Spirit. Psalm 139:23 says, Search me O God, and know my heart…” Hebrews 4:12 says, The Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. We then need to be open to the truth that He reveals, and if our heart is not right, we need to ask and allow Him to make it right by the washing of the water of His Word.

2. We need to guard our heart with all diligence (Proverbs 4:23), keeping it full of God’s Word (not allowing junk in), hiding the Word there and keeping it there, and we must allow it to work in us. Psalm 119:11 says Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. We must receive it, believe, and do it.

3. We, as the body of Christ, must exhort, or encourage each other in the Lord and in His Word, as Hebrews 3:13 tells us to do, so that our hearts are not hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

So do not depart from God, do not grow cold in your walk with Him, and keep full of His Word. Do not doubt Him, do not complain, and do not forget any of His works and His benefits. Listen and hear His voice, then obey and walk in abundant life!