I used to think that hearing from God meant that I had to find some special connection, what for some voice to come into my ears, and then follow the special directions given to me.
Yet even that is too complicated, and Christ is so simple!
"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:3)
How exactly was Eve, and later Adam, deceived? They stopped heeding the word of the Lord, and listened to corrupt folly of another.
"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" (Genesis 3:1)
Which later to the conviction from the Lord:
"And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" (Genesis 3:8)
In truth, Adam and Eve already had the knowledge of good and evil:
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
"And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so." (Genesis 1:27-30)
God gave everything for the man and the woman to enjoy. He command them to be fruitful and multiply, to have dominion. Not a bad deal, at all!
"And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:15-17)
He provided every form of sustenance of His creation, except for the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As long as Adam and Eve were content to receive from God, instead of taking for themsevles contrary to the Lord's wishes, they would have remained eternally blessed in the Garden of Eden.
After the fall, God still offered a way for man to live righteously; not by rule-keeping, but through faith:
"[Abraham] believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." (Genesis 15:6)
The Word of the Lord -- that we can trust. Whatever we find in scripture, those precepts will inform us in the way to go:
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105)
When Abraham chose to trust in God, letting Him lead the Father of Many on the path that he should go, then was Abraham supremely blessed in all his doings.
Today, believers have something even better: The Word of God in the Bible, of course, and the inner witness of the Holy Spirit!
"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." (John 16:13)
And
"But the anointing [of the Holy Spirit] which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." (1 John 2:27)
How can we discern from day to day, then, the right course of action in a situation? The peace of God -- which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit -- guides us!
"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." (Colossians 3:15)
For a believer, the peace of God is the norm. Any move or decision which disrupts that peace is a clear signal not to do something!
This is far simpler than waiting for some audible voice! This is better, far more accurate than an oracle, a prophet who appears once in a while into our lives, or even signs and wonders!
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