Can I ever hope to hear directly from God, or does He only communicate through Scripture?

Q: I am a new Christian and am trying to learn from others about what God wants me to do in my new life. Can I ever hope to hear directly from God, or does He only communicate through Scripture? – G.S.

A: God speaks to those who belong to Him through His holy word—He is the Word! The authors of Scripture made it clear that God was speaking to them and through them. More than 3,000 times they said, “Thus saith the Lord” or its equivalent. And because “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16), we are taught what is right and wrong. God’s purpose is to train us in His righteousness. We must not let anything or anyone take the place of the Bible to guide our lives.

God also speaks to us in nature. When He created the heavens and the earth, He gave us an incredible, complex, beautiful, orderly universe. “Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20).

God speaks through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is revealed for us in the pages of the Bible. He is the Word of God incarnate, and He speaks to us by the Holy Spirit. This may be the “still small voice” of the conscience that will not let us go until we do what is right – or it may be a loud, clear conviction of what God wants us to do. We must never silence that inner voice. We must check what we believe it is saying against the Scriptures to be sure that inner voice is true to God’s Word – and then we must obey, “heeding the voice of His word” (Psalm 103:20).

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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)

©2021 Billy Graham Literary Trust. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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