Discerning and obeying the voice of God

I wonder if obeying God comes easy to you or if like me, you have had to learn this the hard way. Earlier in my walk with God, there would be times when I would receive specific instructions from God about something I am about to do and instead of obeying, I would come up with other options and then go ahead to execute all my options, only to have them fail.

Once this happens, I come back to doing what I should have done in the first place, obey God. Looking back, I have learned that when God tells us to do something, He is not giving us advice or just sharing an opinion. He is telling us the truth that pertains to that specific area of our lives. It took me several months and several mistakes to learn this. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 40:28 that the wisdom of God is unsearchable. What this means is that God's knowledge on all matters of life in general and our personal lives is final.

One of my experiences of not obeying God happened when I was about to decide on a nursery school for my daughter. After looking at several schools the options were narrowed down to two schools. One fancy school and one normal school. I heard God say that I should take her to the normal school but because the fancy school appealed more to my senses (and insecurities), I chose to send her to the fancy school. I thought I knew what was best, yet I did not have the full picture that God did.

One year down the line, my daughter was doing so poorly at school and didn’t seem to like it. Again, the Lord asked me to take her out of the nursery and this time I did. I took her to the normal nursery I had been snobbish about and I would then find out that this nursery was a good fit for her. To make matters worse my 4-year-old loved it so much that she asked why she wasn’t taken there all this time.

There are two reasons why we often don’t obey God. The first reason is that we have so much trust in ourselves, and we believe we know what’s best for us. The second reason is that we don’t know and trust God enough to know that His plans and intentions towards us will always be good. Jerimiah 29:11 says for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future NIV. This passage shows us that God the plans of God for our lives is to prosper us and to give us a hope and a future.

Now, you might be unsure about how to discern the voice of God. God's voice often comes as a still small voice that whispers to us inside. It is normal be unsure if the voice you have heard is the voice of God or your thoughts. The only way to know if it is God speaking is by praying.

I want you to know that if you seek God's face earnestly in prayer, He will speak to you and direct your paths. Psalm 37:23 tells us that the steps of the righteous man are ordered by the Lord. Also, know that God will always tell you what the right thing to do is. I understand that it will not always seem like the right thing to us. However, since we are only able to perceive what's before our eyes our judgements and understanding will often be limited. God on the other hands knows of things unseen. So, obeying Him will require you to have faith in Him and trust that He works all things out for your good.

As with the example I gave above, I saw a nursery that looked pretty. God saw a nursery that wouldn’t fit with my daughter’s personality. I went based on what I saw externally, God instructed me based on what He knew internally about my daughter and about the nursery. So be assured that even if what God has asked you to do is not what you want to do, you must obey because God knows all things and His instructions are sometimes to divert us from unpleasant future situations that seem perfect in the present.