Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things: Discerning The Voice Of God
I’ve always loved September. It’s like a reset month of a lot of things starting back up again. In this month, fashion will reconvene for its most important month of the year, universities are getting back into motion, kids are going back to school, parliamentary house are getting back into session, the United Nations reconvenes this month, and all of us will get back into a serious mode of working for the next two months. I also love how the leaves begin to change, signifying the change from summer to autumn.
We’re all getting back into the swing of things in this age of Covid, and as we start up again, we may be faced with questions of trying to discern the voice of God. Some of us have been asking God for months or years, “what should I do in this situation?” Some of us have been trying to discern the voice and will of God in a matter for so long that we’re exasperated wondering, “where is He?”
I remember when I was dying to return to London to live and I had spent a year striving to get there that I thought I was going to lose my mind. I had this overwhelming desire to go and I felt God was leading me back but there were no open doors. Sometimes when you want something so bad and you’ve prayed, fasted, tried, and shared with friends and the door doesn’t open, you feel hopeless.
I remember a girl I knew in London said to me that she had a friend that was once praying for something in London and they said to God: “if 3 red cars pass by consecutively does that mean I should make this move?” This person decided that God said ‘yes’ and 3 red cars passed by consecutively, so they made the decision and it turned out to be a horrible decision.” She advised me not to take such an approach of praying to God like this and I agreed and still do.
We can’t reduce God to such prayers, and put Him in a box, thinking that this is a safe and sure way to discern His voice. God’s will for our lives is not a game of waiting to see if 3 red cars pass by consecutively.
So, how do we discern His voice from our voice, and the devil’s voice? Think to how God speaks to you and this is normally how He will continue to speak to you about the decisions you have to make in life. For me, I know God is speaking to me when things are coming together. So, for London things weren’t coming together- a job, a work permit (visa), housing. It just wasn’t’ working and still isn’t even why I try knocking on the London door now. Well actually, I don’t desire to return there now. It’s as if my heart burns for Lebanon, even with all its problems.
God knows me, if I got a secured way to London, I’d stay there and not move. Even when I go to London, I hardly visit other parts of the UK because to me, London is the best city on earth so why go somewhere else- haha! He knows that He had work for me to do or something to grow through in Germany, Lebanon, the UAE, Italy, and France- all the places I have lived long or short term.
So, when things aren’t coming together in making life decisions, I know God’s hand isn’t in the middle of what I’m wanting so I need to back off.
Every good and perfect thing that comes into our lives is from God. So, as you flow into September and the autumn season, trying to navigate this Covid world, make sure that you know how God speaks to you when deciding something. And once you know and are familiar with discerning His voice, go with that in the choices you have to make, and don’t forget to exercise wisdom as well. If your decision will contradict what’s in the Bible, then that decision is definitely of God and is foolish.