God told me...

Day 10

OT Reading: Genesis 25-26

NT Reading: Matthew 9:1-17

I admit...I get kind of hesitant when I hear someone say, "God told me." And I do so for a variety of reasons:

• There is no way to verify if it really happened
• It sounds REALLY holy when someone says it...regardless of what their spiritual condition is like
• I've had people try to justify all sorts of stupid decisions or sinful practices by it (no...God did not tell you to go cheat on your wife...no God did not tell you to sell your house and put it all on Red 18)
• Honestly, God has never audibly spoken to me.

To be fair I've had people I deeply trust, tell me that they have had instances where they say they heard audibly from God. It's not an everyday occurrence for them, but there have been instances. So I realize it very well may still happen. But it's just never happened to me.

In today's reading, God spoke to both Isaac and Rebekah. And as we read through the Bible it almost may seem as though God is just speaking to people all over the place. And seeing that, a number of people have pulled me aside to ask, "Why isn't God speaking to me? Am I not holy enough? Am I not praying properly? Does God not like me? Does God not like my shoes? Did watching that last episode of The Office make God want to ignore me? Why is God not speaking to me?"

What we often fail to realize is that, in the entirety of Scripture we only read about a small percentage of people audibly hearing directly from God. I mean think about how many people's names you've come across so far. This person lived this many years and had these sons and daughters -- think how many had absolutely no mention of God speaking to them. Dozens and dozens of names have passed, and we're just half way through Genesis.

Admittedly, it would be easier if God audibly answered every question we asked him. Frankly it would take all the stress out of making decisions. But the fact is that for most of us, there is no audible voice. There never has been for me. And you know what? That's ok.