How many times I have heard people say, “The Lord told me to…” or “The Lord said…” and I have wondered how they are hearing God’s voice and whether or not he has really spoken to them. I don’t want to judge others harshly – many of them have prayed diligently and really do believe they are hearing God’s voice in a matter. On the other hand, we are instructed: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” I John 4:1
As I read through Jeremiah, there were many false prophets telling the people that all was well and would be well. Jeremiah’s message was not one anyone wanted to hear. He prophesied the disaster that would befall the people if they did not turn their hearts back to God. They had adopted a syncretism in their religion. They still worshiped the Great I Am that led them out of Egypt to the Promised Land, but they also worshiped the foreign gods made of wood and stone. They said, “You shall have no other gods before me,” didn’t apply to them anymore. They were ‘enlightened’ by the other societies around them. If they worshiped the right gods, no disaster would befall them. They had become arrogant and self-centered, not caring for the needs of their neighbors, extended families, or community.
I wonder how close to this society we have become. We have so much and we often neglect the needs of those around us. One of the loudest messages that came through the true prophets was the message of justice and caring for the needs of the poor, the widows, the orphans. I wonder how many of us sit in our beautiful churches and cathedrals singing songs of praise to God, putting a little money in the offering plate (mostly to support the building and programs for ourselves), and then go home thinking we have done our good deeds for the week by showing up in church. And as we make decisions regarding our jobs, our homes, etc. we may give God lip service by saying, “The Lord told me to give up this job and move to that one that makes a lot more money and has better benefits.” Or “The Lord told me to move out of this 3-bedroom house into the new 5-bedroom house with 5 bathrooms and a 3-car garage.” Or, “The Lord has blessed me with all these wonderful things…” Sometimes when we say, “The Lord told me…” or “The Lord blessed me,” we are letting others know that we do not want to be questioned about what we are doing.
Jeremiah confronts this behavior, “This is what each of you keeps on saying to his friend or relative: ‘What is the Lord’s answer?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ But you must not mention ‘the oracle of the Lord’ again, because every man’s own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, The Lord Almighty, our God.” Jeremiah 23:35-36 Of false prophets, God says through Jeremiah, “But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.” Jeremiah 23:22
How can we know that God is speaking to us directly or through others? “‘He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?’ declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 22:16 In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us, “By their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:20-21
I don’t want to get caught in making my will out to be God’s will in my life. I hope my Christian brothers and sisters will lovingly confront me if they see me doing this. I don’t want to take lightly, “The Lord told me…” He speaks powerfully through his written Word and as we make room and invite him to, he fills us with His Holy Spirit giving us wisdom and understanding. I believe it is through ‘his transforming me into his likeness’ (II Corinthians 3:18) that I hear his voice. I know it is God and not me when he takes me in a direction I did not expect or plan to go, when he changes me from the inside out into a loving person who cares about others’ needs – spiritual, emotional and physical, and when my definition of being blessed changes from how much I have to how much I have to give. Isaiah challenges us to “spend [ourselves] in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed.” Isaiah 58:10
Lord, help me to guard my tongue and to only give you credit for what is truly from you. Your name is to be honored above all names, not used to manipulate others. Help me to live my life ‘for your name’s sake’, to live in a way you, my heavenly Father, can say, “Well done.”
