Can You Hear Me Now?

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This week, we continue our two-part series 'Can You Hear Me Now'. Last week, we looked at how the Lord speaks to us through His Son, the Word, His Spirit, other people, nature, and circumstance. This week, we are going to look at why He does this. What are His goals when He speaks to us?

They can be broken down into the following three categories:

1. Comprehending the Truth

One of God's goals is that we would comprehend or understand the truth. God wanted the Israelites to know truth. "You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god. I am the LORD your God." Psalm 81:9 ESV. From this statement, God wants us to know and understand:

a. The truth about Him.

In a world that has so many distorted views about God, He wants His people to understand the depth of His majesty, His holiness, His power, His love, His grace, His joy. When we begin to understand these truths about the

person of God, our lives are enriched, enabled, and energised.

b. The truth about ourselves.

God wants us to realise the truth about our importance in the scheme of His eternal plans and that not being conformed to His will hinders us. Our number-one hindrance is our sin. Unforgiven sin prevents us from being all He wants us to be. Once we are born again, God wants us to know our position and the supernatural privileges that come with being who we are in Christ.

c. The truth about other people.

God wants us to look at others not through the lens of earthly wisdom, but to view them as His chosen instruments. Some people are far from God, some are near, and some are believers, but all people are His creation and everyone is dear to Him.

Let's look at number 2.

2. Conforming to the Truth

"But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me

Psalm 81:11 NIV.

The second part of God's goal in communicating with us is so that we may be conformed to the truth. In Romans 8:29, Paul wrote that the Lord has predestined us "... to be conformed to the image of His Son".

How is God going to conform us to His image?

CONFORMED

By revealing the truth of His likeness. As we are confronted with the truth, we can do one of two things: we can refuse to be pushed into God's mould; or we can yield to Him and be fashioned into His likeness. We have to listen in order to understand and to understand in order to be shaped and conformed to His truth. God never speaks to entertain us. He speaks so that we may be made like Jesus. James wrote, "23 Anyone who listens to the word, but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror. 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." James 1:23-24 NIV.

We are not simply to hear, but also to obey, not simply to glance at the Word but also to grasp the Word. We are either in the process of resisting God's truth or in the process of being shaped or moulded by His truth.

And finally, the third reason for speaking to us.

3 Communicating the Truth

God never gives us anything to keep for ourselves. Whether it is money, insight, or truth, it is to be shared. Acts 1:8 NIV says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Jesus let His disciples know clearly that the truth He taught them over the three years that He was with them was not to be kept in a personal reservoir of knowledge, but that they were to give away what they had received.

The Apostle Paul also encouraged his young pupil Timothy by saying, "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach

others."

2 Timothy 2:2 NIV. Timothy was to share the truth he learned from Paul with others, who would then pass it on even more people. We are always communicating something, whether truth or untruth.

The expected result of hearing God is to submit to His rule. He wants us to comprehend the truth and then be conformed to it.

God speaks to us today - He asks 'Can you hear me know? If we pay attention and obey, there are instant benefits. The question is, How will you respond?