How can we hear from God?

from the old testament

• God is all-knowing (Isaiah 40:28) and cares about us (Psalm 139; see also Matthew 10:29–31), so we should want to know what He is saying.
• In the Old Testament, God communicated His messages, guidance, and warnings to His people through His prophets. For example, in Deuteronomy 18:18, God promises to raise up a prophet like Moses: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”
• Similarly, Amos 3:7 states, “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.” Prophets played a central role in speaking God's truth and calling the people to repentance, obedience, and faithfulness to His covenant.
• Besides speaking through prophets, God often spoke directly to people. God spoke to Moses through a burning bush (Exodus 3). He spoke to Jacob through dreams (Genesis 28:10–17).
• God spoke to Ezekiel through visions (Ezekiel 1:1).
• God spoke to Balaam through a talking donkey (Numbers 22:21–39).

from the new testament

• The Bible tells us, "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world" (Hebrews 1:1–2). This passage indicates that God has spoken through the prophets and the people of Israel heard Him speak. When Jesus started His ministry of teaching here on earth, everything changed. God spoke directly to us. The four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—are dedicated to recording who Jesus is and what He said.
• Again and again, the Bible records where God has spoken and the people heard, such as at Jesus’ baptism when a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17) and again at the Transfiguration: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5).
• The Bible was written, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, by men who were authorized by God to write His words so His people would know, without a doubt, who God is, what He does, what He wants for His people, and what He expects from us (2 Peter 1:21; John 20:31).
• The best and most trustworthy way to hear from God is to know His Word. We do this by regular Bible study, listening when the Bible is preached in sermons, discussing it with others, and memorizing verses. Hebrews 4:12 tells us, "the word of God is living and active."
• Second Timothy 3:16–17 says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." God uses the Bible to help us "be complete"—sanctified—made more and more like Jesus and preparing us to know and do what God wants.

implications for today

The most important part of hearing God is to learn what He has already said and to talk to Him about it. As followers of Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit who is our Counselor, we can read the Bible and pray to God. In doing this, we can receive wisdom from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10–13), and we can know the will of the Father because He has made it possible for us to "have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16).

What then should we do with prophets and visions and dreams and talking donkeys? Since God's promise is that He will continue to speak through Jesus (Hebrews 1:1–2), it is wise to scrutinize all claims, thinking, and teaching whose source is outside of the Bible, this includes our own ideas of how God is speaking to us in our prayers. The Bereans, as recorded in Acts 17:11, scrutinized the teaching of Paul when they first heard it. They took this new teaching of a man named Jesus and they compared it to what they knew to be true, the Old Testament Scriptures. Luke writes, "Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11) This is how we should respond to anything that claims to be the voice of God—test it against the Bible.

When you are praying, reading a book, talking to a friend, or watching the news and you learn something that seems to be of God, test it. Ask yourself these questions, (1) does it align with the teachings of Jesus in the Bible? (2) Is it compatible with who God is—loving, gracious, righteous, and holy? Also, seek the counsel of Christians who demonstrate faithfulness to God, asking them to help you to know what God is saying.

Hearing God may be mysterious at times, but the Bible makes it clear that He really does speak with the expectation that we will listen.