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“God told me... ”
January 24th, 2010
I was very grieved to hear that after the earthquake in Haiti, Televangelist Pat Robertson said the tragedy was God’s vengeance for a pact the Haitians swore to the devil, stating the island was cursed. Robertson does not speak for Christians and I have news for him, he doesn’t speak for God either. The Bible is our final authority not some subjective “God told me” dribble.
Does God speak to us today? Absolutely! He has spoken to us in His Word. Does the Bible say that this earthquake was caused by some pact Haitians made? No. There were reports of Haitians singing songs to God, expressing thanks to Him. Please compare that with New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Jesus states that victims of natural disasters are not worse than those who are spared (Luke 13:1-9). While all tragedy is the result of a fallen world, our Lord rejects the idea that all calamity is due to the sins of the victims. It is only by God’s mercy that we are alive – sin, all sin deserves judgment. Yet there are those who call into question God’s goodness with tragedy. Jesus doesn’t see catastrophe that way. The question isn’t “Why did God allow an earthquake to hit Haiti?” Rather it’s “Why didn’t an earthquake level Wisconsin?” The only answer is: God’s mercy. Jesus states that such disasters are calls for repentance. Our human lostness reverses this. Somehow we feel that mankind deserves blessing and disasters are unfair. But the purpose for the earthquake is locked away in God’s mysterious providence. Our response must be, “I will pray for His mercy for myself and those in Haiti. I will give to help. I am humbled by His power and grace. I will ask Him to save souls and exalt His Son.”
Unfortunately, Pat Robertson is not alone. You’ll often hear Christians making statements like, “God told me...” Is this all that serious? Yes. In fact, I believe it's one of the worst claims perpetrated in churches today. It’s potentially a violation (though ignorantly) of the third commandment: “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name” (Ex. 20:7).
So how do we misuse God's name when we claim He told us something? With our intent. Most often we mention Him for one reason: to elevate our own credibility. It’s really not His name that we’re thinking of, it’s our own reputation. It’s spiritual one upmanship. We believe adding the weight of God's name to our words gives us authority and respectability. I mean, how does someone argue against “God told me”? The truth is, we're not thinking of God's name or His glory when we do this, we’re thinking of our own and what is at stake is not just confusion regarding the Spirit’s role in our lives but ignorance and a lack of appreciation for that important doctrine, the sufficiency of Scripture.
Sola Scriptura, this doctrine was a keystone in the Protestant Reformation. One of the principal disputes between Rome and the Reformers was whether God had promised that He would continue to provide inspired, unerring instruction through Peter and his successors. Rome said that that’s what Jesus taught in Matthew 16. The Reformers denied this, saying that, instead, the Scriptures themselves were sufficient for our instruction, albeit with the Holy Spirit’s illumination of our minds. They taught that the Scriptures would be perspicuous—that is, clear—and sufficient. Vital spiritual matters that are important to us would be reasonably clear, not obscure and the Scriptures taken as a whole would suffice for our needs for divine guidance. They held without apology to Sola Scriptura and many of them died for it.
Please mark it down. Most Christians who do this are very sincere and truly want God’s will. They though believe something unbiblical and have a mystical view of God’s will and leading that is not supported by Scripture. What they often think is the prodding of God are their own emotions and background. Many of them struggle with guilt or stress out of an unscriptural paranoia that they may somehow even sin and miss God’s will.
Over the years too I’ve found that a big part of “hearing God's voice” is really more about listening to oneself. Look at Scripture and you will rarely find God telling someone something that they would do on their own. Somehow I don’t see Noah building an ark, or Abraham sacrificing Isaac, or Moses leading the Children of Israel out of Egypt without special and specific instruction from God. But what Pat Robertson said the other day about Haiti was pretty typical of Pat Robertson. It was sad but it wasn’t really a shock. I find that with most others who claim “God told me,” that it is totally in line with what they would probably normally do anyway.
So how can we know whether God is really leading us into some major life decision, or whether it’s just our own desires or emotions? God is crystal clear about what He "tells" us to do. You’ll hear Him speak when you open your Bible. God’s will, will never ever violate His Word. The reason that most of us are not hearing His voice is that we’re simply not listening. He’s already spoken to us in His Word. It is our responsibility to read it! God can and does bless us in our decisions without making them for us. He gives us the ability to weigh the factors in our lives, get advice, do some research, study the issues involved and make informed, well-considered decisions that are well within His will. And we should ask Him to lead us but prior to that, we must be people of the Book, who evaluate and submit our lives and our decisions to the light of His Word.