HEARING FROM GOD

VOICE RECOGNITION

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. – John 10:27

It has been over twenty years since I studied engineering formally, yet I still recall the wonder I felt when encountering the characteristics of sound. In particular, I was learning about digital sampling, such as that used to encode audio on a CD, and now used in many other applications. I was impressed on several levels. First, that sound is so dynamic: although it has some parallels with light (frequencies, or pitches, are like hues, and intensity, or loudness, is like brightness, and so on), there exists no parallel for a single “frame” of sound. In other words, though we can study a photograph or visual image and see the same instant over and over, one cannot do the same with an “instant” of sound. Second, I appreciated that sound can be so complex: sounds arrive at differing intensities and frequencies, from multiple directions, and are superimposed to produce a continuous change in air pressure at a given location. The sounds of everyday life, let alone musical composition, are richly symphonic, unique to every particular location in space. And third, not so much from class, but by extension, I marveled at the cooperation of the hearing ear, nervous system processing, and mental interpretation that allow one to analyze a cacophony and make sense of it all. To have a conversation in a crowded, bustling room is itself a marvel of biological engineering.

Though my fascination came in the process of sampling sound so as to store and retrieve it, this is little compared to the complexity and speed of today’s processes, in which programs interpret sound for the purpose of comparison and interpretation. More recently, a brief foray into computerized voice recognition algorithms has reawakened my wonder. These must not only identify sound, but parse speech—and not only speech, but a particular individual’s voice. I began to think not only in terms of how a sound is broken down and identified, but in the very nature of voice. A voice might possibly be reduced to its physical characteristics, yet to the hearer it conveys one’s personality, emotion, and volition. So, the last few times I have heard a brother in Christ speak of “hearing from God” or “listening to God,” it stirred my thinking. What is the voice of God, and how do we hear it?

Voices are distinct. How many syllables must a familiar person utter over a scratchy phone connection before we recognize him or her? The human voice is an aesthetically beautiful signature of oneself—like handwriting, the way one walks, dresses, decorates, or goes about things in life. It is tailored by a person’s physiological makeup, regional flair, personality, moods, and more. In singing, it offers that uniquely intangible layer that largely defines the sound of a band. We attempt to describe its qualities: brassy, smooth, warm, lilting, pure, raspy, piercing…and soon struggle for adjectives. Yet we distinguish one from another. This uniqueness is also is true of an instrument itself, particularly when coupled with how it is played. The Lord Himself had an audible voice that Adam recognized in the Garden (Genesis 3:10). God spoke audibly throughout the Old Testament, but also in the New: “…suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:17, at Jesus baptism, and again at His transfiguration in Matthew 17:5). Jesus, of course, had his own natural voice while gracing our world as a man; we can only imagine what he actually sounded like in conversation with the disciples about fishing, getting lunch, or finding a place to stay.

Voices are also communicative. Language is powerful as is, yet coupled with the manner in which one speaks, one’s voice can relay conviction, concern, enthusiasm, apprehensiveness, authority, tenderness, sarcasm, and so on. It should be no surprise that God Himself exhibited the full spectrum in our Scriptural encounters with His voice. At one extreme, there is no paucity of references to God’s loudness: “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice…” (Deuteronomy 5:22); “The LORD thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice” (2 Samuel 22:14); “The voice of the LORD is powerful; The voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon (Psalm 29:4-5); These are only a few references of many, and likewise in the New Testament, hearers were amazed at the authority with which Jesus spoke (Matthew 7:29); “When Jesus said, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground” (John 18:6); Jesus spoke caustically toward the religious hypocrites, and found occasion to curse a fig tree (Matthew 21:19); And, looking to later events: we see that “the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command…” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

By contrast, God also whispers (in this case, for dramatic effect): “After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:12). And the same Jesus who told Peter “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23, Mark 8:33) also questioned him lovingly and affirmed his response in the presence of others (Matthew 16:15-19), encouraged him to walk on the water (Matthew 14:29-30), and chided him gently when he doubted (Matthew 14:31). With a gentle question “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” Jesus released the adulterous woman from her guilt, and then gently voiced the command, “go and sin no more” (John 8:10-11).

Thus, the voice of the Lord, though uniquely His, is delivered according to His various purposes. And His style is part and parcel of His substance. Thus we might also say that a voice can be transformative. After all, we encounter dozens of times in Scripture the command to obey the voice of the Lord, rather than simply his words or commands. A voice doesn’t have to audible at all, only discernable (as a dark example, think of how the voice of Abel’s blood cried out to God after his death, in Genesis 4:10). So, it is unacceptable to excuse our disobedience just because God is not thundering audibly to you or me upon a mountain. The Bible is God’s Word, and also God’s Voice. The major component of hearing from God is discerning what God has spoken in Scripture. We are to align not only with what He says, however He says it, but with the spirit behind it—to respond to the Person of God in obeying His desires for us. Just as we might refer to the “voice of the people” in reference to the people’s will or desire, we must think of God’s voice likewise. I suspect that when a brother in Christ “hears from God,” this is most often the simple matter of responding to God’s Word obediently as prompted by God’s Spirit. Sure, God might individually prompt a believer outside of a particular Scripture, yet audibly or not, it will still be in his voice, and the believer familiar with that voice will know it. Just how pressing is an audible word anyway, given what we have today? “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son…” (Hebrews 1:1-2).

And yet it is significant that God has spoken audibly, and that we speak out God’s Word to each other, and to unregenerate souls that may not yet recognize His voice otherwise. In “The Breath of Life” I wrote about the mystical animation that comes through breathing—that “spirit” is literally breath, operating in the material realm to sustain a nonmaterial component of life. It is fitting, then, that spirit, or breath, is the means by which vocal cords are activated. The very breath that sustains us is also employed for this marvelous expression of uniqueness and communication. And in a manner more literally than perhaps we realize, when we allow God to speak into our lives, we receive life. Think of God’s voice as spiritual resuscitation or rescue breathing.

A final attribute of voice to examine here is its capacity to be collective. As mentioned earlier, there can be a single voice of the people. When this “people” is the church, that voice can be as harmonious and magnificent as a trained chorus in performance. Responding with “one voice” indicates obedience (Exodus 24:3), or praise and thanksgiving (2 Chronicles 5:13). The collective singing of praise and worship is powerful, for it converges into something greater than the sum or discord of its parts: “But you are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3). And this too, is a voice beyond the audible component, for the praises of the Church are universal—there is a voice of the Bride, in concert with Christ: “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’” (Revelation 22:17).

In an age in which information (from many voices) flows and is processed in such great volume, and computer programs and devices can even identify voices and follow their commands—how critical therefore that human beings, made in God’s image, can hear and recognize God’s voice, and respond to Him. He has a voice expressed pervasively through His creation, His Word, and His believers. It is a distinct, communicative, transformative, and collective voice. We must hear His voice, and speak it too:   “…it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears’…” (1 Samuel 3:9). “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).

© 2010 Chard Berndt
All Scriptures NKJV.

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  Chard Berndt contributes a monthly essay, investigating the world and our Christian walk in it. Consider his musings and share your comments. Chard teaches high school sciences at Lighthouse Christian School and has earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering (University of Colorado) and an M.S. in Science Education (Institute for Creation Research).