Does God communicate personally? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Shirer again opens up the chapter with Scripture. This time, it’s Isaiah 45:3.
I will give you hidden treasures,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
This is a moving passage isn’t it? Doesn’t it feel great to know that God calls you personally by name? It would sure be nice if we knew what those treasures in secret places were. Let’s see if the surrounding context can help us out.
“This is what the Lord says to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
so that gates will not be shut:
2 I will go before you
and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.
3 I will give you hidden treasures,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
4 For the sake of Jacob my servant,
of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
and bestow on you a title of honor,
though you do not acknowledge me.
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
though you have not acknowledged me,
6 so that from the rising of the sun
to the place of its setting
people may know there is none besides me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
Well, this is awkward. It looks like the passage is dedicated to someone named Cyrus. Not only that, the person spoken of is someone who does not acknowledge God, something God says twice. If Shirer thinks this applies to us, does that mean she thinks we’re Cyrus and that we do not acknowledge God?
Interesting.
Shirer says the Bible doesn’t address every situation that will come up in our lives directly, and this is true. There are many issues that we struggle with today that were unheard of in the times of the Bible. For this, she says, we need a personal message from God.
Or we could, I don’t know, use the wisdom that He gave us and make a sound judgment and go to places like Proverbs.
Shirer thinks we have to have a message from God for so many decisions. It’s a wonder to me how she even gets out of bed in the morning and decides what to wear. That might sound pedantic to you, but what if someone’s salvation depended on Shirer dressing a particular way, such as to appear professional or not cause a man to stumble?
Shirer says God has mapped out a path that is distinctly ours.
If God had done that, I can easily say that every single one of us has already blown it. If this is the case, then God’s plan for humanity has already utterly failed. Fortunately, I don’t buy into this kind of thinking so it’s not a problem for me. For Shirer, I think this would only lead to one having perpetual anxiety over decisions.
When a message or inner voice you are sensing makes you feel condemned or burdened by a cloak of guilt, then it is probably not from God. If the foundation of the conviction you are feeling or the direction you are sensing stems from fear or condemnation, then you can be sure the Enemy is behind it.
Shirer, Priscilla. Discerning the Voice of God: How to Recognize When He Speaks (p. 98). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
So apparently, not only is God speaking to us, but the enemy is speaking to us as well. This kind of thinking makes God and the devil practically counterparts. Not only this, sometimes, if God was speaking to us, we should hear things that lead to guilt. The Scripture says if we are in Christ, there is no condemnation, but that does not mean there is nothing that can be condemned. We do wrong things. Are we to think only those good and positive vibes are messages from God?
Pretty sure David had guilt after being told by Nathan, “You the man!”
Shirer tells us that we will know the Spirit is speaking to us about sin when we don’t have a feeling of despair, but rather we have a fresh desire for holiness and purity.
And the Scripture to back this is? Oh, that’s right. It’s not there!
She also says we can tell God’s voice by His loving personal tone.
For a Scripture reference for this, she goes to….
Nowhere.
Why can’t you go to Scripture for something like this? Because it is not in there. It’s a dangerous movement the church needs to abandon entirely.
Next time, we’ll hear what Shirer has to say about the voice of God and peace.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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