This is a thinking out loud post.
There are some Christians/Theologians who teach that the primary, if not only, way God speaks today is through His Word. There is a trepidation about people leaning too much on “God told me . . .” or “God led me to do . . .” or even worse “God told me to tell you . . . .” And, that fear comes with reason, because there are many who have abused “following God’s voice” or “the leading of the Holy Spirit.” But, I use the word “reason” intentionally because with God we are to live by faith and not by our own understanding. Proverbs 3:5-6. And, unless one were to teach that when Jesus told the disciples that it is good for them that He was leaving because then the Comforter would come that it was only for those apostles and not for Christians today, it is hard to deny the fact that the Holy Spirit is involved in the every day life of every Christian.
What I wonder is if this fear of the abuse of spiritual gifts and listening to the voice of God via the Holy Spirit in our lives has so focused many followers of Jesus solely on the Word in a way that leads to two deficits in their faith walk: (1) whether they can more easily compartmentalize their lives such that where the Word of God doesn’t seem to speak directly to today’s issues they simply follow the ways of the world rather than listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, particularly with regard to the every day issues, and (2) there is the danger of legalism because the focus becomes the letter and not the Spirit. I believe this second issue is what leads to extrabiblical doctrines taught by Christian leaders who (perhaps subconsciously) fear that they must fill gaps with “solid, black and white truth” to prevent unbridled spiritual abuse. In turn they may become the abusers, unfortunately. (A third issue is a failure to work together through our spiritual giftings, creating disunity and disorder, but that may be for another topic.)
This is not to de-emphasize the Word or to suggest that God will teach us things that trump His Word. His Word must be one of the ways we test what we believe to be the leading of the Spirit.
How do these thoughts resonate with you? I am perhaps being too brief and not detailed in connecting all the dots, but that is why it is just thinking out loud and a short post.