Did I Hear You Right?

Years ago, while I was a young Baptist dating my hyper-charismatic wife, I found myself wrestling with a question that pitted my theology against my attraction to this woman.

She would often say, “God told me…” or describe the Holy Spirit revealing visions and dreams to her. Having come from a much more conservative theological tradition, I wasn’t sure how to process her words. I loved her but…

Was she crazy for hearing voices?

Was she simply engaging in wishful thinking?

Or was God actually speaking?

So, being the good fundamental Bible College student I was, I queried one of my theology professors.

Him being one of the more conservative, fundamental theologians I knew - surely he would side with me on the “crazy, not crazy” question.

His answer has stayed with me ever since.

“I would never presume to tell God how He does or doesn’t to speak to His children.”

It was not the answer I expected, but over the years I have come to appreciate his wisdom.

I still would not describe myself as charismatic.

Mystic might be closer, though even that word carries all kinds of baggage of its own.

I simply believe that God is alive, and intimately interested in communicating with His creation.

As I get older, I increasingly appreciate the mysterious and manifold ways in which God reaches His children in forms they understand.

For one colleague, it is through smiley faces.

Whenever she sees one, she receives it as a quiet reminder of God’s presence. She sees them everywhere: in objects, patterns, shadows, and ordinary moments most of us would never notice.

Is every smiley face a supernatural sign?

Probably not.

But could God use something simple and familiar to remind one of His children that she is seen and loved?

I don’t see why not.

In many Eastern cultures, there are also repeated accounts of people encountering Jesus in dreams and visions, sometimes before they have meaningful access to Scripture or Christian community.

Again, who am I to tell God how He may or may not introduce Himself to someone.

Scripture itself records God speaking through dreams, visions, angels, prophets, creation, circumstances, burning bushes, foreign kings, children, animals, and ultimately through His Son.

God has never lacked creativity in getting our attention.

The real challenge is not whether God speaks.

The challenge is whether we are listening, and whether we are interpreting Him correctly.

Those are not the same thing.

Samuel heard the voice of God and assumed it was Eli.

The disciples heard Jesus plainly for 3 years and repeatedly misunderstood Him.

The Apostle Peter received a rooftop vision from God and still struggled to understand what it meant.

Domenico Fetti - Peter's vision of a sheet with animals

God’s revelation is always perfect.

Human interpretation is not.

Kind of like a game of cosmic broken telephone between and Divine and the ordinary.

That same problem confronts us every time we open the Bible.

Scripture is the inspired Word of God.

My interpretation of Scripture is not.

There is a phrase clumsily thrown around in Christian circles that goes something like:

“The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.”

There is something admirable in its desire to submit to Scripture. But when spoken without humility, it quickly becomes an expression of hubris.

The question is not only whether the Bible says something.

The question is whether I have understood it rightly.

Paul instructed Timothy to present himself as “a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”

The command itself assumes that the Word of truth can be handled incorrectly.

We do not approach Scripture as blank slates.

We bring our upbringing.

Our culture.

Our wounds.

Our fears.

Our politics.

Our preferences.

Our assumptions about what God must be like.

We may be reading the infallible Word of God, but we are still fallible readers.

A dream may genuinely come from God and still be misunderstood.

A sermon may contain truth and still be misapplied.

An inner prompting may be sincere and still become tangled with anxiety, desire, ambition, or fear.

Even Scripture can be weaponized when it is separated from humility, context, wisdom, and love.

This is why God did not give us only a Bible.

He gave us a Church.

He gave us pastors, teachers, elders, and friends.

He gave us a community in which revelation can be weighed, tested, questioned, and discerned.

He also gave us the accumulated wisdom of saints who have wrestled with these same texts for two thousand years.

Church history does not make the Church infallible.

Good theology does not eliminate disagreement.

Community does not guarantee perfect discernment.

But each of them can expose our blind spots and challenge the dangerous assumption that our first interpretation must be the correct one.

God may speak personally, but He rarely intends His voice to be interpreted privately.

Perhaps this is why Scripture repeatedly calls us to test, weigh, discern, and listen.

Not to become cynical.

Not to dismiss every dream, impression, or spiritual experience.

And not to elevate every personal conviction into a divine command.

There is another way.

We can remain open without becoming gullible.

We can remain rooted without becoming rigid.

We can listen for the voice of God while holding our interpretations with humility.

Perhaps one of the clearest signs of spiritual maturity is not the confidence to declare, “God told me.”

But rather the humility to say, “I believe God may be saying something here...what do you think?”

God is still speaking.

The question is whether we have ears to hear, and the humility to discern His voice together.