This question came in from Helen H. who asks;

In I Kings 19:11-12. Elijah heard a still small voice. Are we, today, able to hear a still small voice or was it a special revelation for Elijah? We had been taught that it is for us today.

To which we reply:

Hi Helen! Thanks for the great question. There is a whole big messy can of worms this question threatens to open; but we are going to try, just because there are a number of important issues that it raises that all of us need to consider.

First, in the past 100 years, there has been a great deal of controversy in the Christian church about how God speaks to His people. No orthodox Christian would doubt that God speaks to His children; the issue is “HOW” God speaks to His children.

Beginning in Azusa California at around the turn of the century, certain Christians claimed that God was speaking to them directly through dreams, visions and prophetic utterances. They claimed they were only returning to primitive, first century Christianity and that therefore ALL the gifts of the spirit including healing, speaking in tongues and prophesying were still operable in the church today. In the 1960’s this view moved from beyond the “Pentecostal” churches and entered almost every mainstream denominations. Eventually, many of these “Charismatics” (from the Greek word “charisma” or “gift of grace”) formed new churches where they could practice their distinctives.

Christians have become much divided over this issue and there have been many, many books written condemning each other. While here, we cannot address ALL of the issues involved, your question really touches on the central issue; does God still speak directly to His people through special revelation?

To answer that question requires us to set up some guidelines for discussion. One of the basic principles I teach in my “Critical Thinking” course is that strong claims require strong evidence. The stronger the claim, the stronger the evidence must be before we should accept it. For example, if I claimed that I was the real King of England, you would not want to accept that claim without some pretty strong evidence!

As Bible believing Christians, we all agree that Scripture, and Scripture alone MUST provide that evidence. Our personal experience or personal beliefs must be subjected to God’s own revelation. Without that foundation, everyone on both sides of the issues would be lost; everything would be subjective.

However, that is the problem isn’t it? Both sides DO appear to appeal to Scripture to support their view; so who is right?

Well, here we get into the area of hermeneutics; or the science of interpretation. When people come to the Bible, they have certain assumptions they use to interpret what they find. Often, it is the assumptions that need to be examined to see if they are valid because if we have the wrong starting point, then we can be wildly off base in our conclusion. One of those widely held, but erroneous assumptions is that the Bible is really a set of proof texts that you can pretty much pick and choose from. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are infamous for ripping verses out of context, putting them together and arriving at ridiculous conclusions. Surely, we ought to be able to do better?

So let’s look at the specific issue you raised about 1 Kings 19:11-12. First, this is what is called “historical narrative” in that it is an historical account of what God did in a certain place and certain time. Therefore, simply because God spoke to Elijah in a voice, says nothing at all about how He might speak to anyone else. Granted, sometimes historical narrative portions of Scripture DO contain general moral principles; but the text itself will identify those and we will find confirmation in other portions of Scripture.

Everyone should be able to agree that you cannot willy-nilly generalize from historical narratives; after all, how many times recently have you called fire down from heaven on a wet offering? Or perhaps, more to the point, when was the last time you slaughtered some false prophets for the glory of God? What, you haven’t? Why not?

Obviously, you know that generally speaking, individual Christians do not have the right to go around killing false prophets; even the really annoying kinds on late night TV. Just because Elijah did so, does not mean that you or I can do so! (But if we could, I have a list ready!J)

But how do we “know” that we cannot always do what someone like Elijah did? Well, we look at other portions of Scripture and we can see general principles that apply in the normal course of events. We cannot just go to one passage of Scripture, especially historical narrative, and then deduce a general principle. God may well have been doing something special and unique here.

So the question then really becomes, what is the way that God Himself says He would speak to His people? First, let us realize that God speaking to people directly is an unusual event in the Bible itself. Yes, God did give prophets, but if EVERYONE was supposed to get direct revelation, why then the need for those people called “prophets?” Surely, we can all agree that if some people called prophets got special revelation, then by definition, other people did NOT get direct words from God.

When we look at the average “Joe” in Scripture, clearly, the normal way God spoke to people was through His Word, NOT direct revelation. The prophets were given that word to give to the people. Over time, that word was written down as Scripture. And if we look at the normal course of events, God intended for the average person to receive His Word, THROUGH that Scripture. For example, in Joshua 1:8 God specifically says that Joshua was to meditate on the Word. It was through meditation, and diligent application that God would guide and direct Him. So here in another narrative portion of Scripture, even when God is directly speaking, He is telling Joshua that usually, He will speak through His Word!

Now, is this just another specific instance, or is this a general principle. Well, we can go to other portions of Scripture and see what they say. For example, in Psalm 119:9-11 David is writing a song of praise to God for His Law. He says, “How can a young man keep His way pure, by keeping it according to Thy Word…Thy Word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.” David was a man after God’s own heart. God loved David with a special love. On several occasions, God did give David special revelation, but that was always through prophets. There is no indication that God EVER spoke directly to David through a “small voice” but instead, David meditated and memorized the word of God which was the means by which God spoke to Him.

Thus, in order to prove that God speaks to US in a small voice, we need better evidence than one incident from the life of Elijah. We would need clear instructions from other portions that would demonstrate that this method of communication was both general and still in use by God today.

However, having said that, every one of us have had impressions, feelings and sometimes even inner confidence that God WAS speaking something special into our hearts. Isn’t this really the same thing as what Elijah experienced?

Well, there is a problem here because we are interpreting the Word of God by our experience, rather than our experience by the Word of God. Thus, we are implicitly assuming that our experience actually takes precedence over God’s Word.

The Bible actually does recognize that every one of us has a still small voice that speaks to us; it’s called “the conscience.” Our conscience is a part of our moral make-up that alternately condemns or confirms us depending on our actions. When we do something bad, our conscience makes us feel bad. And when we do something good, we feel good about it!

However, the conscience is not “supernatural” in the sense of being a direct sense organ to God. The Apostle John is quite clear that our conscience can be wrong (Jn 3:18ff) or it can confirm that we are doing right. Without going to far off on a tangent, the conscience does appear to be a moral compass that God has placed into all men. When we sin, and do not repent, we can harden our hearts and have our consciences seared to the point that we can no longer hear that voice.

The Christian who loves God and immerses himself in His Word will have his conscience refined and developed. The more we meditate upon God’s Law, the greater understanding we have of His precepts and principles, and the more effective our consciences will be (Psa 119:99). Thus, when faced with a moral choice, or even a life decision, the Christian with a strong, Biblical conscience will often “hear” God speak about an issue.

But in reality, this is NOT special revelation. In the Bible, when God spoke to His prophets, there was never any doubt about what He said. Whether this revelation came in the form on an angelic visitor, a voice from Heaven or in the “soft still voice” that Elijah heard, there was NEVER any doubt that it was God who was speaking. We on the other hand are to get wise counsel from the brethren to help us understand God’s will (Col 3:16, Pvbs 11:14).

Remember, the test of whether or not one actually got a Word from the Lord was 100% accuracy. If a man gets even ONE prophecy wrong, he was a false prophet and was to be stoned. Furthermore, even if a man was 100% correct in his predications, he still had to be 100% right in his theology or he was stoned!

The third commandment says that we are not to take the Lord’s name in vain. One direct application of that is attributing our thoughts or words to God; i.e., claiming divine authority for our actions, when in fact God never spoke. Therefore, Christians need to be extremely careful when they claim that they heard a still small voice in their heads, and that voice was God’s. Many foolish people have claimed divine approval for all sorts of nonsense. We ought to be able to do better.

But the real issue is that we LIKE the idea of God speaking to US, personally. It makes us feel special and privileged. We feel as if we are losing something. Trust me, I understand that fear; but what if I could promise you something even greater, and more precious and special? Jesus said, those who worship God must worship Him in “spirit and in truth” (Jn 4:24). Which is preferable, an intimate, personal relationship with the living God based on HIS principles, or talking to ones’ self and believing God is answering back? You see, God WILL speak to you, through His Word; just not the way that some people think. And when He DOES speak through that Word, it will really be His voice. But it will take some time, it will take some study and it will take a lot of humility.

Thus, though we cannot generalize from Elijah’s experience, we do have general principles from God Himself that His Word is the way that He normally speaks to us. We know that we have a conscience which God uses to guide and direct us. Therefore, we do not need to speculate that God is speaking in a “soft, inner” voice.

Instead, we need to read and meditate on His Word. We need to study it diligently, talk about it freely and encourage and exhort each other to apply it in our lives (cf. Josh 1:8. Col 3:16, Deut 6:4ff, 2 Tim 3:16-17, etc.). If we want to REALLY hear the voice of God, all we have to do is shut out the clamor and noise of our normal busy lives, get on our knees in humility before Him, open His Word, meditate and listen. THAT is where we can expect God to speak.