Many people wonder, Does God speak and if so, what is He saying? God does speak and He has a word for you! God is a speaking God. Communication is part of His nature. In fact, the Bible says that a God who cannot speak is no god at all. Idols have eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, mouths that cannot speak (Ps. 135:15-17). Psalm 62:11-12 says, “One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: ‘Power belongs to you God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love.’” David is testifying that he heard God speak through the world and the word, generally and specifically. General revelation is when God speaks through nature and conscience. The world around us and our conscience within us says that there is a God and we are in trouble. Special revelation is when God speaks more specifically through Jesus and through His word. Jesus and scripture tell us that God is love and we can be saved! God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. He wants to talk to us, and His word brings healing, salvation, and transformation. Let’s look at five ways that God reveals Himself to us.
Creation
Psalm 8:1 says God has “set [His] glory in the heavens” and Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” Think of a sunrise or a sunset, the tide of oceans, and they point to intelligent design. If someone took all the pieces of a watch, put them in a box, and shook them up, would they come out a working, functional watch? No! A watchmaker, a watch-designer has to put them together. If the earth were a little closer to the sun, it would burn up. If it was not tilted and positioned exactly right, life on earth would not be possible. It all points to God.
Conscience
Our conscience gives us a sense of right and wrong. In Romans 1:18-20, the Bible says that what may be known about God is plain because God has made it plain. Man may suppress the truth, but it has been made so clear that people are without excuse. All people have knowledge of God, whether in Africa, Asia, America, or anywhere. In Romans 2 we read that we have no excuse (v. 1) because “the requirements of the law are written on [our] hearts, [our] consciences also bearing witness…” (v. 15). God is to be worshiped. Although by itself it is an insufficient guide (because it can be seared, guilty, dull of hearing, etc.), our conscience tells us this and gives us a sense of God’s truth.
Circumstances
God also uses circumstances to get our attention. God spoke to Jacob in a dream, to Moses in a burning bush, to Elijah in a still small voice, to Isaiah in a vision, to Job through family tragedies. Are you listening for God in the midst of your circumstances? C.S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, but shouts in our pains.” Nothing happens in history that does not start by being allowed in eternity. When the weather gets bad, you listen to the weatherman. When life gets hard, listen to God.
Commandments
The Bible is another way that God speaks. “…the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:15-16). God revealed Himself in the Old Testament through theophanies, dreams, visions, and prophets. The Old Testament tells of the coming Messiah. It promises Christ and the New Testament presents Christ. Jesus is the center of both. He is the hinge, the bridge. He came to fulfill and not abolish the law. Jesus said the scriptures “testify about me” (Jn. 5:39). In Luke 24:27, we read that Jesus started with Moses and the prophets and explained what was said throughout concerning Himself.
Christ
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (Jn. 1:1, 9). Jesus is the Word who gives us logic and language, revelation and reason. All truth is God’s truth. Jesus is the Way and He is the Truth. We are talking about general and special revelation. The last book of the Bible is called The Revelation of Jesus. Jesus is the revelation of God. “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…” (Heb. 1:1-2).
Maybe you are thinking, “what does all this have to do with me?” You can know God! Not just abstract knowledge, but personal knowledge where you know Him intimately. God is real. God speaks today and you can talk to Him. What is the one thing God is saying to you?