God Speaks to Me

The new year is upon us. What’s God going to do in my life in 2008? I wish I knew. But at least he’s given me a hint of what to expect. God has spoken to me about the future—not in an audible voice, but through his past actions. As one scholar puts it: “The Lord’s hidden unheard word is revealed and discerned in his doings in providence.”

Simply put, God has told us what to expect from him in 2008 by the way he’s worked things out for us in the past. Even if we can’t hear his voice, his word becomes evident as we watch his plan unfold.

Remember the first time God spoke? No one was around to listen, and yet, out of nothing, God created the heavens and the earth. There was no audience to respond. Unheard by anyone other than Himself, “God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.’”

And God is still speaking today, even if his voice doesn’t register on any decibel chart.

Ps. 147:15 says, “He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls down hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes and waters flow.”

To be sure, I don’t think that God is up in heaven throwing down thousands of hail stones. But God is carrying out his divine plan—that’s called the providence of God—he is working things out by his Word. We might say it this way: history is the roll-out of God’s commands. He’s still speaking.

Are we listening?

Remember Elkanah (see 1 Sam. 1)? God provided his wife Hannah with a son. God answered Hannah’s desperate prayers and following the Lord's divine intervention, Elkanah says, “may God confirm his word.” What’s Elkanah talking about? There’s no indication anywhere that God had said something to Elkanah. But he gets a glimpse into God’s future intentions through God’s immediate provisions. Looking back, Elkanah looks forward with confidence.

Here’s the remarkable thing about serving a loving and sovereign God. Even though God doesn’t tell us what he’s up to, we can look back and see why he brought something into our lives.

Have you ever reflected on a trial in your life and concluded: “Now I see what God was doing!” By looking back (and seeing his providential dealings—in our life and in history—we can look forward with anticipation.

Here’s the way that I look at my life: God put me in the home that he did so that he would save me at an early age (through the encouragement of a godly and trial-tested mother). He placed me in a Bible-teaching church as a young man so that I would learn to love the Scriptures. He let me struggle and see all kinds of turmoil at a large public high school so that I would learn dependence upon him. He let our house get broken into and burglarized as a teenager so that I would learn to fear God, not men. He provided a way to go to a private college (when it seems financially impossible) so that I would deepen my understanding of the Word and meet a young lady who would change my life. He allowed me to succeed in the television business so that I would discern a call into pastoral ministry. He blessed me with children to humble me and bring me unparalleled joy. He provided an internship at Calvary in the summer of 2000 so that he would bless me with the people of this church. He let me get lingering pneumonia a year ago so that he would restore me again with strength and a newfound compassion for those who are sick.

We’ve all been through stuff, haven’t we? But God has given us victory.

What has God brought you through? And what does that say about his plans for you in 2008? There may not be a rainbow at the end of every trail. But shouldn’t our hopes and expectations be stirred by what we’ve already seen God do?