#132 WHEN GOD SPEAKS 9-13-26
There is a great difference between listening to God and trying to figure out what God must have meant. For generations, restoration churches have often approached the Bible through a three-part system: commands, approved examples, and necessary inferences. But where did God give us that three-part formula? Where does the Bible say that everything God requires must be discovered through commands, examples, and deductions? The Bible tells us to listen to God, believe God, obey God, and walk by faith (John 10:27; John 14:15; Romans 10:17; Hebrews 11:6). It does not give us a mathematical system by which human beings determine what God supposedly requires.
WHEN GOD WANTS US TO KNOW SOMETHING, GOD SPEAKS. “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1). He spoke through prophets. He spoke through His Son (Hebrews 1:2). He speaks through the word that has been given to us (John 12:48; 2 Timothy 3:16–17). God is perfectly capable of communicating His will. “The entirety of Your word is truth” (Psalm 119:160). “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89).
God speaks in PRINCIPLES. He tells us to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:39), to do good to everyone (Galatians 6:10), to care for the poor (James 1:27; 1 John 3:17–18), to forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13), and to make disciples (Matthew 28:19–20). These truths are not merely isolated commands waiting for us to connect the dots. They reveal the heart and character of God. Jesus taught us that the greatest commandments are love for God and love for our neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40). Paul said, “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10).
God also speaks in PROMISES. “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). “Whoever comes to Me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). Christianity is not merely a system of commands to decipher. It is a relationship of faith with a God who has spoken, loved, promised, redeemed, and called us to Himself (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:19-20).
And God speaks with POWER. “The word of God is living and powerful” (Hebrews 4:12). “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void” (Isaiah 55:11). We don’t have to improve God’s communication by constructing elaborate chains of human reasoning. We don’t need to turn every historical detail into a binding law. We don’t need to make an example a universal command. We don’t need to decide that something is “necessary” simply because we have reasoned that it must be.
That raises an important question: WHO DECIDES WHAT IS NECESSARY? If God says it is necessary, then it is necessary. But if I reason that it must be necessary, I need to be honest enough to call it my conclusion, not God’s command. There is a difference between biblical wisdom and divine legislation. “For who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” (1 Corinthians 2:16). “Who are you to judge another’s servant?” (Romans 14:4). We should be very careful when we take something God has not explicitly required and place it upon another person’s conscience as though God Himself had spoken.
Jesus repeatedly confronted religious systems that turned human conclusions into divine requirements. “You have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition” (Matthew 15:6). He condemned those who were “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). Paul likewise warned against allowing human regulations and “self-imposed religion” to become spiritual law (Colossians 2:20-23). The danger is not only adding to God’s word; the danger is making our interpretation of God’s word carry the same authority as God’s word itself (Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:18–19).
So let us return to something simpler and more beautiful: WHEN GOD SPEAKS, WE LISTEN. WHEN GOD PROMISES, WE TRUST. WHEN GOD COMMANDS, WE OBEY. WHEN GOD REVEALS A PRINCIPLE, WE LIVE BY IT. AND WHEN GOD HAS NOT SPOKEN, WE DO NOT PRETEND THAT HE HAS. “Let God be true but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). Our faith does not rest upon how cleverly we can construct an argument. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
The Bible is not a puzzle designed to see how many conclusions we can force from it. It is God’s revelation of Himself and His redemptive work in Christ (Luke 24:27; John 5:39-40; 2 Timothy 3:15). WE DON’T NEED TO MAKE GOD SPEAK. WE NEED TO HEAR WHAT HE HAS ALREADY SAID. And when we do that, we discover that His voice is sufficient, His promises are trustworthy, His grace is abundant, and His Son is enough (John 1:14; John 1:16-17; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 2:10).
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Father, teach me to hear Your voice without filtering Your word through human traditions and systems. Give me the humility to distinguish between what You have actually said and what people have concluded You must have said. Help me trust Your word, rest in Your promises, obey Your commands, and live according to the principles You have revealed. Above all, help me keep my eyes upon Jesus, in whom all Your promises find their Amen.
BDD
