Does God still audibly speak to us today?

This week in our summer series, This is My Story, we heard from longtime Bridges member and our friend Kay, who shared a story of personal mountain peaks and deep valleys. But through it, God provided his word for guidance and comfort. And through it all, she said, God is enough. And this week we talked about how God communicates to us today through his word.

But we also saw how God spoke in the beginning, and God spoke to Moses and through the prophets, and God revealed himself to his people. So our question this week is this. Does God audibly speak to us today? Can and do we still hear the audible voice of God today? The key to this question is the word audible. Because God certainly speaks to us today, without question.

I would say he speaks to everyone, believers and even unbelievers. God has chosen to reveal himself to us in many ways. First, he reveals himself through creation. God shows us who he is, speaking through creation. I’ve talked about this before, but for me, being at the beach or on the ocean or being isolated in nature way up in the mountains, I am in constant awe and wonder of God.

Romans 1:19–20 says, for what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. We give that a fancy theological name. We call it general revelation. God has revealed himself to us in his creation.

Then we have special revelation, which are the ways God specifically reveals himself to his people in unique ways so we can know him and know his plan. This is through divine speech, like we say, speaking to us, and miracles and scripture and his most complete and fullest revelation of himself, Jesus. To know Jesus is to know God. And scripture also teaches us that God speaks to us in prayer and speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, and often he speaks to us with a still, small voice. I’ll come to that later.

But again, back to our question for today, does God speak audibly to us today? This seems to be a really common response, but I’m going to say it again. The answer to this question is, yes, but. Yes, God can and I believe does speak to people today in a way that can be heard and understood. But we need to be cautious or careful.

I will admit, I have never experienced the audible voice of God. I hear from God through prayer and through the Holy Spirit and definitely through scripture. But there are people I know and respect who have shared with me and I genuinely believe they have heard the voice of God. And there’s nothing in scripture that says God will no longer speak to us.

However, not every voice that we as humans hear will be from God. God is not the only one fighting to win our attention and our hearts, and the enemy will use any means necessary to pull us away from God. So we must test everything.

Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21, do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything. Hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil. And John tells us in 1 John 4:1, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

So, how do we test the spirits? How do we know if what we are hearing is from God or if we are hearing something else? If we continue in 1 John 4, verses 2 and 3 say this, by this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

Ultimately, it’s this. Scripture is our supreme authority and plumb line. God has revealed himself to us in Jesus and in scripture. And if we have any questions about something we hear, we ask, is this Christ-like? Is this in line with scripture? If you hear a voice, whether it’s the audible voice of God or a still small voice in the quiet time of prayer, and that voice tells you to do something that does not seem Christ-like, and it does not square with the teachings of scripture, it is not from God.

It’s a false prophet, an evil spirit, or most common, it’s the twisted desires of our own selfish and sinful hearts. That is probably the most dangerous. It’s our own desires that get in the way. Some could hear a voice with some outlandish command that’s obviously against scripture. And to an outsider or to a friend you’re sharing this with, it would be obvious and we would say, no, God did not tell you to rob a bank and move to Hawaii just to live your best life. It’s pretty easy to test that spirit.

But the harder one is our own desires and vanities. C.S. Lewis captures this so wonderfully in his Screwtape Letters. Even though it’s a fictional story, Lewis explains how the drift away from God is gradual and is easiest when built on our own vanities, our own desires, and our own pride.

So, how do we test the spirits? How do we make sure the voice we’re hearing, again, whether it’s audible or inaudible, how do we make sure it’s from God? Root yourself in scripture. Daily time with God in his word and in prayer. The more immersed we are in scripture, the more immersed we are in what God wants us to know about himself.

After all, he is the one who has revealed himself in the scripture. The stronger our foundation on scripture, the harder it will be to bring down the fortress of our heart. We must plant ourselves on the solid rock of scripture and on Jesus, not the shifting sands of this world and our desires.

Martin Luther said that in prayer and in meditation, the Holy Spirit will preach to us. He said, the Holy Spirit himself preaches here, that’s in meditation. And one word of his sermon is better than a thousand of our prayers. And that was Martin Luther, Mr. Sola Scriptura, he believed that you could learn from hearing the Holy Spirit. But again, this only makes sense when firmly rooted in the word.

So, does God audibly speak to us today? I believe yes, God speaks audibly and inaudibly to us today. We must hold firm to the immovable truth of scripture. I’ll close with this from John Piper. He says, I don’t see anything in the Bible that would say God can’t communicate with us in extraordinary ways outside the Bible. He can. And if he does, we should test it by his infinitely authoritative risen word.

Well, again, I hope this has been helpful. I hope it leads to more discussion and to more dialogue. And we’ll see you next time.