How does God speak to us?

Pastor Joe Fuiten, August 14, 2005

 

 

            Relate the following story which took place around 850 BC:

2 Kings 7

7:1 Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria." 2 The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" "You will see it with your own eyes," answered Elisha, "but you will not eat any of it!" 3 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? 4 If we say, 'We'll go into the city'-the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die." 5 At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there, 6 for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!" 7 So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. 8 The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also. 9 Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this to the royal palace." 10 So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, "We went into the Aramean camp and not a man was there-not a sound of anyone-only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were." 11 The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace. 12 The king got up in the night and said to his officers, "I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, 'They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.'" 13 One of his officers answered, "Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here-yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened." 14 So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, "Go and find out what has happened." 15 They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and reported to the king. 16 Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as the LORD had said.  17 Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house. 18 It happened as the man of God had said to the king: "About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."  19 The officer had said to the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" The man of God had replied, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!" 20 And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

 

 

Do thoughts create reality, reflect reality, or exist outside reality?  Those are probably not thoughts you have had just recently but I ask that you consider these things with me for the next moments.

            We know that thoughts can be located outside reality.  That is really the definition of psychosis.  People can fail to perceive what is there, or perceive what is not there.

            This story illustrates how God speaks.  First, it is clear that God spoke to Elisha.  He told him in advance what would happen.  Second, the four lepers had a whole series of God-directed thoughts which they mistakenly thought of as coming from within their own heads. 

            Their evaluation of their life was inspired by God.  They concluded that any way they went they were going to be dead.

            Their action choice, to go into the enemy camp, was inspired by God.

            The Syrian’s hearing things and coming to wrong conclusions was also inspired by God.  They heard what wasn’t there, leaped to an absurd conclusion, and acted foolishly at God’s inspiration.

At Ceasarea Philippi Peter had the revelation of Jesus Christ.  That story is found in Matt 16:13-17.  When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"  14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"  16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

            What Peter knew was revealed to him by the heavenly Father.  This may well be the greatest revelation possible.  If you know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, it is possible for you to trust in him and ultimately to be saved.

Immediately thereafter, the same mind that received the incredible revelation of Jesus is occupied by a Satanic thought which he cannot help but verbalize.  That story in found in the subsequent verses, in Matt 16:21-23.  From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!" 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." 

            The human mind is the zone where everything happens.  Discernment, knowledge, wisdom, counsel, and even more overtly spiritual functions such as prophesy have some connection to the mind.  These things take place at the convergence of spirit and mind.  They require the mind but are actually functions of the spirit. 

            When God wants to accomplish something he is going to engage our spirit.  Our spirit in turn will most likely engage our thoughts.  Clement of Alexandria described it like this:

 

And sometimes also the power “breathes” in men’s thoughts and reasonings, and “puts in” their hearts “strength” and a keener perception, and furnishes “prowess” and “boldness…” both for research and deeds.[1]

 

            Unfortunately, our thoughts are also subject to outside influences that may not be good. There is more than one voice in the universe.  That is why Paul gave to the Philippians a way to sort out the thoughts that were coming their way.  He said in Philippians 4:8

 

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

 

            I am fascinated by how the writer of Hebrews 4:12-16 sets the Bible as the standard for thoughts.  We are not told just to express ourselves.  We are not told to avoid stuffing our feelings.  We are to allow the word of God to judge our thoughts.

 

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

 


[1] Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson, eds., “The Stromata, or Miscellanies,” Ante-Nicene Fathers; vol. 2 (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994) 518.