How to Hear from God

Hello from Chicago, Illinois! It’s a pleasure to be here today. Let’s jump right in.

A young slave girl is going about her business when her mistress tells her, “Tonight you will sleep with your master and produce him an heir.” Imagine her shock, fear, and confusion. Should she feel flattered? Or should she run away?

Fast forward a few months, and this slave girl is out in the middle of nowhere, on her knees beside a small well. The tears are like tiny streams on her face, her fear and anger flowing out of her. And suddenly she hears a voice. “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”

Now she is even more shocked, confused, and afraid. Who is this person who found her out here? Who could she trust in such a setting? But she says, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” In spite of her fear, she is truthful.

“Return to your mistress and submit to her,” the mystery man tells her. I wonder if with those words a scream tried to escape from within Hagar’s heart. But she holds it back because the man keeps talking.

“I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude . . . Behold you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael [which means ‘God hears’] because the Lord has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”

You just can’t make this stuff up. What a strange image: a wild donkey of a man. What a mixed prophecy: her son will survive and Hagar’s descendants will be a multitude. But there will be strife.

Do you want to know how Hagar responded? She was bowed down with the honor of being spoken to, of being found, by this one whom she knew was from God. “So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.’”

Hagar realized that she had no right to be sought after by God himself. She had no standing, no position. She may not even have made a commitment to serve her master’s God. But here was this messenger from God, giving her the hope and assurance she needed to carry on.

Perhaps you are in a time of desperation like Hagar. You want God to show you the way out. Maybe you’ve heard about other people who have received prophetic words promising them a prosperous life. Or maybe you see other believers who are living a victorious life, and you just don’t know how they get there.

Why did Hagar go to the well in the wilderness? Maybe she was thirsty. Also, this is the place where people would come to drink and water their animals as they were going to the next town. She was hoping she would meet someone who could help her. And she did, but she did not expect it to be God himself.

It’s okay to ask people for help. God often uses people to speak to us. This passage says it was an angel of the Lord who met her there. I don’t think he had big wings and a white robe. I think he looked like a man and he had a message that rang with the truth of God Most High. Plus, he knew she was pregnant and knew what his name should be.

Hagar humbled herself and received what God had for her, even though it was weird.

I have a friend who was working as a nurse’s assistant. She was beginning her training to become a registered nurse and working at a hospital. One day, a coworker came up to her and told her something like this: “You will be blessed with a baby boy. It will be soon, so get ready!” My friend and her husband wanted to have children, but after they were finished with school. So she politely nodded and thought, “That was weird.” Then she moved on with her life.

Not too long after that, she learned she was pregnant. It was a little humbling to feel that someone else had known something about her life that she didn’t know. So she was a tiny bit smug when they told her it was a girl. When she updated her coworker about the news, the coworker was not convinced. These nurses should know that science is science and you can’t argue with an ultrasound!

But do you know what happened when this baby was born? That child was in fact a boy. Can’t argue with a naked baby.

The effect of this experience on this family—and on the friends who hear this story—is the sense that God has a special plan for this boy’s life. God saw him as he was being formed in his mother’s womb. He announced his coming to his mother, so she could be prepared. I know this boy, who is now 10 years old. He is delightful, very bright, and loves the Lord. And his mother has been blessed with two more children, both girls, all healthy and happy (at least most of the time).

Isaiah 66:2 says, “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

You don’t have to raise a ruckus to get God’s attention. You don’t have to perform spiritual acrobatics to prove that you are worthy to hear him speak to you. If you fast or pray for long hours, let it be for the purpose of humbling yourself, of remembering that you are nothing more than human. Let it not be to demonstrate your worth to the Lord or to anyone else.

We also need to consider our motivations in wanting to hear from God. Sometimes we can’t hear God speaking because he’s not saying what we want to hear. Do you think Hagar wanted to hear instructions to return to her hateful mistress? How humiliating, how dark that path must have looked. But Hagar obeyed.

If you need to hear from God, examine your heart. There was a man who needed to be healed. Although he was a high official, he was so embarrassed by his skin condition that he went to a low-income area to seek out a famous healer. That healer told him to go wash himself seven times in the nearby creek. This creek was gross with algae and pollution. He protested such a humiliating instruction. But his servants understood what God was doing. They urged their master, “Is it better to suffer your whole life from this illness or to suffer for a short time under the hand of God?” So this high and mighty official went swimming in the mess and came up clean. [This story is from 2 Kings 5.]

A few chapters after Hagar was first met by God, she has again fled to the wilderness, this time with her son. She tried to find that well where she met with God before, but she can’t find it, and she is desperate and terrified. What’s worse is that her son is wailing, confused and mirroring his mother’s fear.

This time, no man stands in front of her, but she hears the voice of God from heaven. “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up! Lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then God opens her eyes and she sees the well she had been looking for. (I don’t know for sure if it was the exact same well. But I have to think she was seeking out help from God by going to the place where they had last met.)

Sometimes our fear and tears blind us from seeing what’s right before us. Sometimes what we need to hear from God is, “Up! Don’t despair, take care of those who belong to you, and I will take care of you.” After Hagar hears God’s voice, she goes right back to momming. She draws water from the well and gives her boy a drink.

Our lives might not look too different on the outside after we’ve heard from God, but we can know within us that we are changing as a result of his words. If you hear from God and his instructions are, “Keep on your current course. Don’t give up and don’t give in,” you may feel a little disappointed. It’s more glamorous to announce, “God spoke to me and I am to move to the big city and start a ministry.” So, if that’s what you’re wanting, then you may need to ask God to change your heart.

There is no set of steps that you can perform that will make God feel compelled to speak to you directly. He has been seeing you and he knows what you need. But I will say that in the Bible, God often speaks to people in the wilderness. Sometimes people are there out of desperation, as with Hagar. Other times people are there to seek God out, as with Jesus. Remember that the Israelites were called out from Egypt into the wilderness for a time before they went to the Promised Land.

If you are in a figurative wilderness, directionless, or lacking what you need, those are excellent conditions in which to hear from God. But you may consider getting some distance from the hustle of everyday life to spend some time listening. For me, this has looked like taking long walks in a forest. I have the luxury of a husband who can be with my kids. In fact, I have a habit of taking a couple hours to myself every Sunday morning before church. I leave very early in the morning, and it is my favorite part of the whole week. I go out whether I have some problem to bring to God or not. And it’s not as though an angel meets me there every time. But God’s presence is there with me every time, because he is always with us. And he has often brought me clarity and comfort when I have needed it.

Also, remember that God is with us at all times, in all places, no matter what we’re doing. Worshiping at church is a great time to hear from God. When you’re listening to the music and the sermon, ask God to highlight the words he especially wants you to hear. But you don’t have to be doing something religious to hear from God.

There was a monk a long time ago who loved to spend time with God. But do know when he felt closest to God? It’s not when he was saying the prayers seven times a day. It’s not when he was reading his Bible. He felt closest to God when he was gardening and doing the dishes. His hands were occupied, and his mind was free to wander to the things of God. He imagined God right there with him, pulling the weeds with him, scrubbing the pots.

I want to state again that it’s going to be hard to hear from God if you’ve ruled out certain things for him to say to you. Hagar did not say to God, “God, there’s no way I’m going back to Sarai. So what do you want me to do?” And when going back to Sarai was the instruction, she did it. Later, Sarai sent her away, and then God’s instruction is just to take care of her boy. So she does it right there in the wilderness. She did not say to God, “Obviously I can’t raise a child out here in the middle of nowhere. So what would you like me to do?”

Are you giving God guidelines? Have you already ruled certain things out? Are you hoping for a word from God that sounds similar to what other people have reported hearing from him? Keep in mind that Hagar’s word included that her son was going to be a donkey of a man. That is just awkward. But I bet she teased him about it when he was acting like one.

Let’s pray:

Father God, we are all a bunch of donkeys. What right do we have to ask you to come and speak with us? Sometimes we feel so low, so unseen, so unknown. When will our real life start? How will we get out of the mess we’re in? What should we say to our friend who is hurting? Where is the money going to come from?

Help us to have eyes to see you and ears to hear you. We know you are seeing us and you are not withholding your voice from us. Help us to make space in our lives to listen. Help us to be openhearted toward you. Help us to receive your word no matter how weird it may be. Examine our hearts, Lord, and show us where we are being selfish or controlling.

How we love you! How we long to know you more. Your voice is a treasure to us. Amen.

Some resources to note from today’s podcast:

Read Hagar’s stories in Genesis 16 and 21. And I highly recommend a book of recorded conversations with that monk I mentioned. It’s called The Practice of the Presence of God.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to share today. Blessings to you all.