Hearing GodSample

God Speaks through Events in Our Lives

The last category of how God speaks to us is one of a complicated, nuanced truth. It’s also important.

Here’s the first part: God can, and does, speak to us through our circumstances, or the events of our lives. Here’s the second part: Not everything that happens to us in our lives is God speaking to us, and if we relate to Him this way, it’s going to be hard on us.

You can probably relate to both of these ideas. Something happens and you wonder, Is that God? Is He punishing me? Is He blessing me? What’s He trying to say?

This is normal. One extreme is to think, That’s dumb. God doesn’t have anything to do with it. The other extreme would be to always attribute every moment as some sort of secret message from God. Neither of these approaches are helpful. Which leaves us back at square one. How do we move forward? Our goal is to live in the tension. We consider both things at the same time while leaning into the trust we have in our relationship with God.

We know God is a communicator—it’s His nature that He wants us to know and hear His voice.

We also know it can be difficult for us to hear Him for a number of reasons: His voice can be drowned out by other voices, we don’t recognize His voice, there’s an enemy running interference, we think He doesn’t see us and doesn’t care, we’re selfish and have our own agendas, etc.

**CAUTION**

One more time . . . we learn to hear and trust God’s voice through His Word. Hearing God speak through events in our lives may be the most difficult way to hear Him in the moment. More commonly, we recognize this one when we look back later.

At times throughout their lives, every Christ-follower will wonder, What are you doing, Lord? Did you forget about me? What am I supposed to do? This puts us in a delicate place. Often, we’re tempted to make drastic or reactionary decisions. It’s never wise to make major life moves when we’re emotional. God doesn’t force us or hammer us; He works with us through faith and patience.

And yet, God will speak to us through the events in our lives. He wants to build our faith. He wants us to grow in our love and generosity toward others. He wants to expand our confidence in what He’s able to do. This always works in conjunction with His Word, the Holy Spirit, and trusted voices.

These are three simple applications every follower of Christ can make on a regular basis.

First, simply ask God in prayer, “Lord, are You speaking to me through this circumstance? I’m listening and open to anything You want to say.”

Second, when He responds in any of the ways we’ve learned about (through His Word, through the Holy Spirit, through trusted voices, through your conscience/inner witness), do what He asks you to do.

Third, whenever you’re in a significant life event or circumstance, reflect on His goodness and faithfulness in the past. Over and over throughout His Word, God tells His people to “remember.” It builds our faith and brings us closer to Him.

Go deeper with our Hearing God Study Guide.