VOICE of GOD -- Do You Know It's Power?

Theme Scripture

Psa 29:7 “The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.”

Question for you. When is the first time you remember reading about the voice of GOD, GOD’s Word, the precision and power of GOD’s voice?

As you ponder your answer, when you heard or read it did it become a visual in your mind? For instance, Psalm 29:7 says the voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire. Have you figured that one out? Or, how about the ‘word’ of GOD is alive and powerful, sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit and between joint and marrow? Is it fathomable to contemplate separating the soul and spirit?

The following is a collection of scriptures that details the many ways GOD has used HIS VOICE or commented about HIS voice or WORD. It is a curious collection in that it shows how in anyone’s walk with the LORD you may encounter HIS voice or word or it may encounter you via engagement.

Taking this chronologically;

1.      GOD ‘said’ Let there be light and then divided it light/day and darkness/night. Gen 1:3,4

2.     GOD spoke an expanse into existence which created our heaven from the watery surface of the earth. Gen 1:6-8

3.     GOD spoke again and created the earth and populated it with shades of verdant green including grass, trees, and the vibrant colors of fruit. Gen 1:9-13

4.    GOD next turned HIS attention to speaking the lights in the expanse of the heavens making the planetary lights one main one for day and a secondary one for night and then stars. – Gen 1:14-19

5.     GOD then created the teaming water life, the birds flying above the earth all be speaking it into being. – Gen 1-20-23

6.    GOD next spoke forth living creatures making a differentiation between livestock and wild animals. – Gen 1:24,25

7.     GOD thereafter ended his WORD week with the creation of Adam, and later Eve and together they would be curator of all aquatic life, all avian life and all mammal life. Before HE finished day six, HE made sure to point out that HE had provided ample food source in the vegetation for both the humans and all other life that needed it to sustain life. Finally, GOD rested on the seventh day.

Do you remember reading this before? “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.” – Gen 3:8 - Did you ever ask yourself how you would respond to hearing the VOICE of the LORD as you took a stroll through some botanical garden?

Of course, as in most things in life, there had to be an ‘owners’ or ‘manufacturers’ manual to assist in understanding the intent of the CREATOR for the creation. The occasion of the voice in the garden was very different than sitting down with a printed manual or watching a ‘how to’ YouTube episode. This was the CREATOR in direct contact with HIS creation, in particular Adam and Eve. Again, it was the ‘voice’ speaking to the two of them.

How is GOD’s voice illustrated by some of those in the Bible?

8.    Job 37 features Elihu extolling the power of GOD’s voice identifying ‘rumblings as in thunder’ or ‘majestic voice’

9.    Job 38 begins with GOD answering Job ‘out of the windstorm’

10.                        Elijah, the prophet of GOD had an incredible ministry with powerful miracles. Towards the end of his ministry he was exhausted perhaps even a little depressed. He journeyed for 40 days and nights until he reached Hor’eb taking a little time in a cave. This is the record, notice, the ‘word of the LORD came to him’ as you read the written record of this encounter below.

“And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” 11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. 13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” – 1Kings 19:9-14

Notice the big things where GOD’s voice was not? Turned out this time instead of thunderous booming voice it was a ‘still small voice’. The Hebrew word for ‘still’ suggests it is like a whisper. The Hebrew word for ‘small’ suggests something light, gentle. In other words, barely audible. Imagine your own ears and mind. You’ve just been commanded by GOD to step outside of the cave. So, you are already in heightened maybe elevated adrenalin. Then a huge wind that tore into the mountain. You know that had to be very loud to your ears. Not knowing the lay of the land but sometimes if mountains or canyon walls are close by noise is echoed. In any case, his sense of hearing is now fully engaged and his mind no doubt freaked. But GOD was not in the wind.

Then an earthquake. We do not know the magnitude but when you are standing on quaking ground, your equilibrium is definitely affected and your mind is busy trying to manage your balance, your internal fear and your involuntary muscle responses. But, again, GOD was not in the earthquake.

After the earthquake a fire. Don’t know what kind, where it was located, if it was a huge ball of fire that just passed by or if elements of Elijah’s immediate proximity were burning. But GOD was not in the fire.

At this time, Elijah is no doubt on overload. If you can get inside your head and imagine yourself in his position your perspective may help to enhance how Elijah must have experienced sensory overload. At a time when everything in him and out of him may seem out of control there is an almost inaudible whisper. What Elijah did was interesting. He wrapped his face in his mantle and stepped into the entrance of the cave. The mantle was a special garment, may have even been a prophet’s garment that is wide. After all that he had just experienced, the POWER of GOD in the parade of natural phenomena that already took away a human’s sense of control, but then the mere whisper of the ‘still small voice’ knowing it was GOD’s of course he would humbly and in awe cover his face before exiting his cave. Showing submission and respect was the right thing to do. But, then, GOD proceeds with the same interrogatory…’what are you doing here?’

We need to be careful in our lives when we are inquiring of GOD HIS Will for us that we do not assume the answer from GOD will be your own burning bush, or wind torn boulders falling from a mountain right in front of you, or a coincidental magnum 5 earthquake happened. It has been said that a person would only believe in GOD if they had their own burning bush experience. But what if it is actually a stirring in the person’s conscience so faint it was like a still small voice? We cannot rule out any of these events happening to anyone because they have happened before. Our LORD knows us intimately and if the answer to your prayer would be understood by an immediate earthquake then it may be your answer. The point of Elijah’s experience was literally and figuratively to get him out of his funk. He was hidden away in a cave. Not uncommon for mammals to hide in a place where they are walled in all around with a view of the entrance. People do this in many ways. They hide under the covers when they are small, maybe not so small; they go to a safe room; they go to their restroom and lock the door. They run into their home and stay there for long periods of time refusing to step foot outside because they are feeling threatened somehow.

Elijah had been threatened with death. So, he went and hid in a cave a very long way from the threat. He was shutting down emotionally. His answer to GOD basically was to say he’d done what he could what he thought was expected and believed was loyal to his GOD and he’d decided there was no one left to do it, but the bad guys were after him.

After GOD’s most impressive display of things that HE could do instantaneously HE gave Elijah his new marching orders. Equipped with a newfound resolve that the very GOD he’d been representing and serving truly had the power to cause death and, in his case, preserve him alive from and with that same power. He was to anoint a new King in Syria and one in Israel and then to anoint Elisha to become his replacement prophet.

The absolute most amazing end of Elijah’s story: He was swooped up in a fiery chariot into heaven. How blessed was Elijah to have witnessed GOD’s majesty and power in his own ministry of miracles, in his judgment of the priests for Baal and in the display at Hor’eb. But to be whisked away in a fiery chariot into heaven…. can you even imagine?

That VOICE of GOD, as loud as the loudest clap of thunder; of a strong wind rolling rocks off mountains; the creation of our universe, our planet, all life forms on our planet, and the embodiment of the WORD, in our LORD JESUS.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.” – John 1:1,2

And now, after we have looked and mused about the unimaginable power of GOD’s VOICE or HIS WORD we wind up back where we started. Can you imagine this:

“The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.”

As we ponder the wonder of GOD’s voice and word let us not forget the point of Elijah’s experience. Elijah and GOD had a personal relationship and communication was a key part of it. Elijah knew HIS GOD well even if it for a moment in the cave he was feeling a tad vulnerable to those who hated him. But GOD knew him so well HE knew how to roust him from his feelings of inadequacy and gave him a task that was sort of like telling him to get back on the horse that threw him. And he did. Without hesitation. And is it not just the best thing to think after he did what he was told he had his own private ride on GOD’s chariot out of his life here? His ride was no regular chariot either. Just fully awesome.

Will you exercise your voice in prayer with the LORD? Listen for HIS communication with you? Open GOD’s Word the Bible and let the Holy Spirit speak to your spirit as you read anything.

Perhaps this will give you something to think upon: ““Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so,  I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” – John 14:1-6

May you use your own tuning fork and dial into GOD’s VOICE, pay attention to HIS Word and know the peace and joy of the way, truth and life. †

NOTICE: If you are feeling inclined or feeling led to want Jesus as your Savior, your leader, your King, your source of Peace and Joy but are feeling woefully inadequate, uninformed on how best to get to know HIM, or find yourself at wit’s end because you believe yourself trapped and in need of GOD, please know Jesus stands ready to welcome you with HIS Holy Spirit. Believe these words: “¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. “—John 3:16

^“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, ²⁰ and that He may send ^[c]Jesus Christ, who was ^[d]preached to you before, ²¹ whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since ^[e]the world began.” – Acts 3:19-20

“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born [a]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” – John 3:3-8

If you need help, please feel free to leave a comment and I will respond.  †

DISCLAIMER: The thoughts published on this blog, in total, are the opinions, thoughts and considerations of the writer/author of every post published. It is assumed that research by the reader will lead the reader to their own conclusions. It is not the writer’s intent to make a judgment of anyone but to allow GOD’s Word to do what it does. “For the word of GOD is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from GOD’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” – Hebrews 4:12 [NIV]

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