The Voice of the Lord
I want to start by sharing something from one of Sarah Young’s devotionals dated yesterday, October 30. One of the scriptures she used was John 10:14, 27-28 which says, “I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me... My sheep listen to my voice...”
This is what she says in the devotional: I am with you. I am with you. I am with you. Heaven’s bells continually peal with that promise of My Presence. Some people never hear those bells because their minds are earthbound and their hearts are closed to Me. Others hear the bells only once or twice in their lifetimes, in rare moments of seeking Me above all else. My desire is that My “sheep” hear My voice continually, for I am the Ever Present Shepherd. Beginners need a quiet place in order to still their minds. As you advance in this discipline, you gradually learn to carry the stillness with you wherever you go. When you step back into the mainstream of life, strain to hear those glorious bells: I am with you. I am with you. I am with you.
In her devotional dated today, she starts with these words:
Learn to listen to Me even while you are listening to other people.
When Corey Russell and Allen Hood from The International House of Prayer came to my church, the Leadership class I was in had a chance to meet with them and pick their brains about leadership. One of the things I remember them talking about was how to grow in intimacy with the Lord through scripture. They talked about the quiet place and learning to hear His voice through the discipline of reading a passage of the Word over and over again and praying it and reading it slowly and as you are reading, waiting for the revelation to come. It trains you not to rush through scripture just to say that you finished the Bible in a year, but to truly eat the Word. They said it was ok to spend a month on one verse if that is where the Lord was speaking to you. So if you started with Psalm 23 and got stuck on the words, “The Lord is my Shepard,” that was ok. As you repeat those words and pray them back to God and read them slowly, the Lord starts to give you deeper revelation of Him being Lord and shepherd.
Wow, He is speaking in so many different ways. What are these different voices or ways of speaking He uses and how do they affect me?
I was unfamiliar with Psalm 29, but I chose to start there because the number 29 is one way I hear the Lord speaking to me. So, as I’m being still before the Lord and making an effort to have quiet time, and reading and praying and concentrating on every word of this Psalm, it finally hits me:
Wow, He is speaking in so many different ways. What are these different voices or ways of speaking He uses and how do they affect me?
“3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
7 The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire. 8 The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.”
The word Lord in this Psalm is speaking of The Existing One, Jehovah.
His voice is one that always was and always will be.
He is existing = no beginning and no end – He wasn’t born and He will never die; He just IS.
Where is His Voice and What are the Characteristics of His Voice?
It is upon the waters.
It is powerful.
It is full of majesty.
It breaks the cedars of Lebanon and makes them skip like a calf.
It divides the flames of fire.
It shakes the wilderness.
It makes the hinds to calve.
It discovers the forests.
The word “voice” is from an unused root meaning to call aloud. God’s voice is not silent. When He speaks, you hear it. The problem is, sometimes we don’t know that its God’s voice we are hearing.
WHERE: “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters.”
It is upon many waters: Waters, figuratively, means danger, violence, transitory things, refreshment. The word "water" is used in a variety of metaphorical ways in Scripture. It is used to symbolize the troublesome times in life that can and do come to human beings, especially God's children ( Psalm 32:6 ; Psalms 69:1 Psalms 69:2 Psalms 69:14 Psalms 69:15 ; Isa 43:2 ; Lam 3:54 ). In some contexts water stands for enemies who can attack and need to be overcome ( 2 Sam 22:17-18 ; Psalm 18:16-17 ; 124:4-5 ; 144:7 ; Isa 8:7 ; Jer 47:2 ). In both the Old and New Testaments, the word "water" is used for salvation and eternal life, which God offers humankind through faith in his Son ( Isa 12:3 ; 55:1 ; Rev 21:6 ; Revelation 22:1 Revelation 22:2 Revelation 22:17 ). In John 4:10-15, part of Jesus' discourse with the Samaritan woman at the well, he speaks metaphorically of his salvation as "living water" and as "a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
Where is His voice? It’s in all those situations! In the troubles of life, He speaks. In the attack of the enemy and in times of overcoming, He speaks. His salvation is His voice of acceptance and welcome into eternal life.
In the place of transitory things: things that don’t last, things that are not eternal, the temporary = I will not work at a church in heaven, this is a temporary situation for me, yet His voice speaks in that situation, leading and guiding me. The eternal voice of the Existing One is here, in this temporary place. He, who will always exist, humbles Himself to speak into things that will not last in this life but matter to us. He speaks into those situations for us. Our jobs, for example, are temporary things.
In the place of refreshment = Refreshment is fresh mental, emotional and physical strength and energy. During those times where you think you are at the end of your rope, and suddenly, you have new strength and new hope, that is the Lord. He spoke. His voice is the refreshment.
Our desire is to hear the voice of the Lord. No matter the season we are in, it is His voice that will either keep us as we are going through our current situations or bring us to a new place. Either way, He is with us and He is speaking.
CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS VOICE:
Powerful = READ 1 Cor 3:4-7 first – 4 When one of you says, "I'm on Paul's side," and another says, "I'm for Apollos," aren't you being totally infantile? 5 Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us - servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. 7 its not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow.
Powerful means everything we think powerful means: strong, mighty, etc, but this word here also refers to the strength, produce and wealth of soil. The Word says that one plants, one waters, but God gives the increase. His voice is the strength in the soil, it is the wealth (richness) of the soil, and it is the produce. What we think we are getting when we plant and water a seed is usually not what comes forth. What comes forth is what He ordains, and it is always good. So His voice brings forth produce in our lives that are good to eat; fruit to feed and strengthen others.
So, when you think of God’s voice being powerful, have confidence that where He has you planted now, is a good place, that His voice is speaking in that place and providing all that you need in order to grow in that place and prosper and bring life to others.
Majesty = His voice is an ornament on us. It is our beauty and glory and honor. When He speaks into our lives, we become adorned, lifted up, and honored. His voice created the world, so that same voice that created the world speaks to us and over us and makes us into a vessel of honor in His house. We become an ornament in our homes, our work places, and in our church. We become the thing people look at and make them think of God.
Breaks the cedars of Lebanon and makes them skip = I love this voice. The cedars of Lebanon were very strong trees. They were tall, according to Amos 2:9; 2 Kings 19:23, majestic according to 2 Kings 14:9, and excellent according to Song of Solomon 5:15. Their stature was exalted above all the trees of the field according to Ezekiel 31:3-5. They were highly prized. David and Solomon both built houses and temples from this tree. According to Psalm 92:14 the cedars of Lebanon are full of resin which preserves the wood from rot and worms. He breaks the cedars and makes them dance.
Dancing involves movement and swaying, and bending, and the cedars did not move or sway or bend. He makes them act outside their natural abilities or purpose. The tough, strong, tall, exalted things in our lives, God can break; He wants to break them. He wants to be our height and majesty and excellence and stature. He wants to be highly prized in our eyes and wants us to build with Him. The thing you depend on in life, the strong thing that you have faith in, because we have invited Him into our life, He will make to fail, with His voice; not let it fulfill the purpose you want it to so that He can fulfill the purpose you need. “Our will was akin to the great cedars of Lebanon — it was tenacious, unyielding, and unbending. Its creed was, "MY WILL, O Father, not Thine be done!" He disregarded our stand, however, and thoroughly broke that adamant will with the shattering sound of His voice.” That’s why that thing that you have erected to protect you doesn’t work. He loves us enough to shatter our defenses so He can be our defense.
Sometimes the cedars of Lebanon can be those things the enemy throws at us to pen us in and hold us down, but God’s voice breaks those things and makes them dance; makes them useless for what the enemy intended them to be used for.
Think of a superstar whose life is in danger. A crazy fan hates the last movie she did wants to harm her. He’s coming behind her in a crowd and is almost upon her when all of a sudden he starts break dancing. He can’t control it. He’s there to kill or maim, and instead he’s doing the funky chicken. That’s what God’s voice does to the plans of the enemies.
Shakes the wilderness = Kadesh was an important site in Israelite history. It was the chief site of encampment for the Israelites during their wandering in the wilderness of Zin (Deuteronomy 1:46); it was from Kadesh that the Israelite spies were sent out into Canaan (Numbers 13:1-26); The first failed attempt to take the land was made from Kadesh (Num. 14:40-45); Moses disobediently struck the rock that brought forth water at this location (Num. 20:11); Miriam (Numbers 20:1) and Aaron (Numbers 20:22-29) both died and were buried nearby; and Moses sent envoys to the King of Edom from Kadesh (Num. 20:14), asking for permission to let the Israelites pass through his terrain. The Edomite king denied this request.
So, Kadesh is a place of wandering, it is a place where doubt and fear is the prevalent mindset (only 2 of the spies sent out came back with hope that they could get the victory), it is a place of failure to take ground, it is a place of disobedience, it is a place where the people we depend upon to lead us are no longer there (Aaron and Miriam died), and it is the place where our requests to go further are denied. The voice of the Lord shakes Kadesh.
To shake means to dance. He turns our mourning into dancing. To shake means to travail in order to bring forth. Shaking Kadesh doesn’t mean that the Lord takes us from the wilderness. It means He gives us joy in the storms of life and gives us strength to travail in order to bring forth gold from our circumstances. We can have joy when we have not reached our destination. We can have joy when others come back with a negative report. We can have joy when we feel leaderless. We can have joy when the answer is “no.” His voice gives us the ability to do that.
Makes the hinds to calve = Deer bring forth their young with great difficulty, but the voice of the Lord helps them through it. If the voice of the Lord does that for the animals of His creation, how much more will He help us through our difficulties?
Discovers the forests = Discovereth means to strip and make bare. A forest is full of trees and underbrush. It is not a place where you can walk a straight line; it is not a place where you can see far distances because your view is blocked by trees and foliage. The voice of the Lord creates space for you to walk the straight and narrow, no matter how dense the forest is. The voice of the Lord clears away anything that blocks your vision of Him and where He wants you to go. You can get lost in a forest, but the voice of the Lord leads you. You can hide from your destiny in a forest. Adam and Eve sought a refuge among the trees, but the voice of the Lord soon found them out. We don’t want the voice of the Lord to find us hiding, but He loves us enough to strip away our hiding places in order to call us out and up.