I put the above in quotes because it comes directly from Deuternomy 30:20. Moses is speaking to the entire nation of Israel, nearing his death, giving God’s final words in the Pentateuch. God is recounting all his promises of blessings and cursings to the Israelites – blessings for obedience and cursings for disobedience. In that context of import and finality, Deuteronomy 30:20 has this hidden gem:
19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
What does this mean? What is God asking us to do when He tells us to listen to His voice??? Is this just another way of saying obey these commands that I’ve given you today (and which will be written in a book that will one day be called the bible)? Or is God saying that we are supposed to listen for something else? Is this a literal reference to His voice?
I’m no theologian and I only know what hermeneutic means because I’ve had to learn it to keep up with some of the theological blogs and websites I read from time to time. I pray that my main hermeneutic is to press into God, asking Him to illuminate what is being said through the Holy Spirit He left for me as my comforter and counselor and by revealing more of Himself to me, as an intimate knowledge of Him should be our main hermeneutic. So I suppose it is possible that I’m about to use what a theologian may deem to be a bad hermeneutic, but I think I’ve come to some conclusions about listening to His voice.
But before I tell you what that conclusion is I must confess something, because the way I came to write this post would indicate to some that my conclusion was predetermined (of course, to a Calvinist that wouldn’t be a bad thing – smile). My confession is this: I discovered that phrase “listen to His voice” in Deuteronomy 30:20 after asking God what I needed to study yesterday morning and believing that I heard Him direct me to Deuteronomy.
It was with great excitement that I noticed verse 20, because it seemed to confirm my belief in living by following God’s voice. That belief has been strengthened because I’m reading a book right now that claims the “main thing” for a Christian is to live a life of love, in direct opposition to living a life of judgment. As I’ve pondered what a life of love is (a subject I will post about soon) I have personally concluded that it means not following one’s own voice, the one that speaks of our personal desires, wants, needs, likes, dislikes, rights, etc., and taking up God’s desires and following His voice wherever it leads. (Taking up our cross … dying daily … love is shown by Christ’s example on the cross … love is a man laying down his life for his friends.) For example, I would love to have a home in the mountains for skiing and a home on the beach for swimming and live a life of leisure, hopping from one to the other making life about my pleasure, eating, and exercising. If I chose to pursue that selfishly that would not be living a life of love. God has a different plan for me and I must willingly lay down my own dreams and pursue the dreams He places in my heart. As I see it that requires me being able to discern between my own heart (and voice) and His heart as He speaks it to me.
Having said all of that I realized that another interpretation of verse 20 could simply be listening to the commands He gives us in the written word. I mean, here He is, speaking to Moses, and Moses is giving the nation of Israel these words, and the conclusion is to listen to His voice. One could easily say that this is nothing more than listening to the words passed to Moses and recorded for all of history to see, touch, and know. And, frankly, that is clean, neat, black and white, and seemingly easy to apply. Those who would agree with an interpretation that God’s voice is the bible (and only found there) might tell me that I’m believing in something else based only on personal experience, not the bible, and therefore such an interpretation is errant. “Let the scripture interpret scripture!”
Others may accuse me of adding to or negating the scripture. But, I don’t think it is an either/or thing – such an accusation creates a false dichotomy. One can believe and affirm the full authority of scripture while believing that God still speaks today. Part of learning to listen for His voice is to understand that He will never contradict Himself, and, because the bible is God’s written revelation, we can know that any voice we hear that contradicts the bible cannot be God’s voice.
However, my personal experience at hearing God’s voice isn’t the only reason I still conclude that part of living the Christian life includes more than just reading the bible to hear God’s voice. First, I don’t think God would tell us to obey His commands and say listen to my voice to mean the same thing. That seems confusing; I believe the inclusion of both phrases in these late chapters of Deuteronomy illustrate the two don’t mean the exact same thing. Additionally, there is a part of interpretation that includes what some call “the law of first mention.” All this means is that the meaning of a word the first time it is used in the bible is the meaning that should predominate later usages of that word, following the belief that God weaved together all the writings of the bible into one book with One source. So, we must look at the word “voice” in Deteronomy 30:20, find out what the Hebrew word was in that verse, and then find out where that word was first used in the scripture. That sounds difficult, but with internet tools like Blue Letter Bible it really isn’t.
The Hebrew word is “qowl,” pronounced “cole.” Before we even get to “first mention,” in Hebrew the word refers generally to something heard, not read. But when we go to the first reference to “qowl” in the scripture we get to go all the way back to the garden of Eden. Adam and Even have just eaten the forbidden fruit and they HEAR the QOWL (VOICE) of God walking in the garden. In God’s original design for us, we fellowshipped with Him, walking and talking with Him, hearing His voice, sharing our own, enjoying friendship and life eternal. Now, after our acquiring the knowledge of good and evil, we choose our own way, separating ourselves from Him, believing a lie about Him, and struggle to hear His voice. His call to us to return to the life He designed for us is to live a life of love, laying down our own rule and submitting to His. We can, consistent with His original design in the garden, live life fellowshipping with Him.
To do so – I believe – requires listening for His voice, following His direction as spoken to our heart 24/7. So, as our love and faith increases, our ability to hear His voice increases, and we will hold fast to Him in all that we do; this will result in a life of love and a life of blessing. This seems consistent with God’s character and desire to live in fellowship with us.
A few but definitely not all of my earlier entries on this subject follow (linking to myself as though I’m some expert or that all my words are worthy of your time…. LOL):
“Revelation Only Through The Bible?” September 9, 2007
“To What Is God Stirring Up Your Heart and Spirit?” August 24, 2007
“God Still Speaks . . . Are You Listening?” August 17, 2007
“Visions . . . Vanity, Verity, or Vacillation?” May 7, 2007
“Is the Bible the Sole Way God Speaks to us Today?” April 21, 2007
“Hearing the Voice of God” April 13, 2007
“Quench Not the Holy Spirit” March 21, 2007
“Listening to the Little Things For God’s Voice” November 25, 2006