God Told Me...
I remember the scene as if it were yesterday. It was a Sunday evening worship service at my home church, and I was probably in my early teen years. Not quite sure. Anyway, Sunday evening services were a very sporadic happening at my home church. We'd try it for a while, and then when attendance tapered off, we would stop. Then, eventually, we would start them again. This particular Sunday evening, we had a guest speaker. I can't tell you what he was talking about, but I clearly remember in the middle of his talk, he stopped, pointed to someone in the crowd and said, "Sir, God has told me something about you. Do you want me to share it?"
The man didn't change his facial expression, but he told the speaker no. As a teen, I remember being somewhat surprised by that. Why wouldn't you want to hear something God had said? As I've gotten older and walked with God for a longer period of time, I've come to realize that using such language is often the height of arrogance and hubris. Not always, but often.
I've heard it from many people. "Brother, let me tell you what God said to tell you..." I even remember one young man (well-meaning, I suppose...or maybe not) in college who approached a young lady and said God had told him that she was supposed to marry him. I think she turned down the offer of a date.
Now, let me say it as clearly as I can: I absolutely believe God speaks to us. Though I have never heard what I would call an audible voice, God speaks to us through the Scriptures, through creation (inspiring praise) and even at times through other people. But the slant of the Scriptures is that most often, God speaks directly to us and then others often confirm what God has said. There are stories in the Old Testament of God sending prophets to proclaim messages to kings, but in the New Testament, after the point when Jesus has torn down the wall of separation between God and humanity, after we no longer need priests to mediate between us and God, things are different. We have direct access to God, and God can and does speak directly to us. It's always suspect for someone else to have received a word from the Lord about you instead of you receiving it; perhaps the word from the Lord was about them and they listened poorly.
It's been my experience, too, that sometimes we use that phrase, "God told me," to cover up for sloppy preparation. Many years ago, when I was part of a campus ministry leadership team, we spent quite a bit of time praying over the speaker schedule for the coming year, and we believed we had a clear direction from God for where we were to go that year. One evening, our speaker came in, and without talking to or asking the leadership team, he announced, "I know you all asked me to speak on such-and-such, but GOD TOLD ME to speak on this." I was never able to prove it, but my guess is he didn't take the time to prepare and instead pulled out an old sermon and dusted it off. Instead of being honest, he made himself look like he was more connected to God than these leaders who had prayed and prayed and sought God. (Maybe we had heard God wrong, but maybe he had, too. Simply claiming "God told me" does not mean any of us heard 100% correctly.)
Be wary of using the phrase "God told me" in regards to anyone but your own spiritual life. It's dangerous to claim God's authority for what are often your own words. Humility calls us to approach such matters the way the early church did, saying "it seemed good to God and to us..." and admitting when we've heard God wrong.
The man didn't change his facial expression, but he told the speaker no. As a teen, I remember being somewhat surprised by that. Why wouldn't you want to hear something God had said? As I've gotten older and walked with God for a longer period of time, I've come to realize that using such language is often the height of arrogance and hubris. Not always, but often.
I've heard it from many people. "Brother, let me tell you what God said to tell you..." I even remember one young man (well-meaning, I suppose...or maybe not) in college who approached a young lady and said God had told him that she was supposed to marry him. I think she turned down the offer of a date.
Now, let me say it as clearly as I can: I absolutely believe God speaks to us. Though I have never heard what I would call an audible voice, God speaks to us through the Scriptures, through creation (inspiring praise) and even at times through other people. But the slant of the Scriptures is that most often, God speaks directly to us and then others often confirm what God has said. There are stories in the Old Testament of God sending prophets to proclaim messages to kings, but in the New Testament, after the point when Jesus has torn down the wall of separation between God and humanity, after we no longer need priests to mediate between us and God, things are different. We have direct access to God, and God can and does speak directly to us. It's always suspect for someone else to have received a word from the Lord about you instead of you receiving it; perhaps the word from the Lord was about them and they listened poorly.
It's been my experience, too, that sometimes we use that phrase, "God told me," to cover up for sloppy preparation. Many years ago, when I was part of a campus ministry leadership team, we spent quite a bit of time praying over the speaker schedule for the coming year, and we believed we had a clear direction from God for where we were to go that year. One evening, our speaker came in, and without talking to or asking the leadership team, he announced, "I know you all asked me to speak on such-and-such, but GOD TOLD ME to speak on this." I was never able to prove it, but my guess is he didn't take the time to prepare and instead pulled out an old sermon and dusted it off. Instead of being honest, he made himself look like he was more connected to God than these leaders who had prayed and prayed and sought God. (Maybe we had heard God wrong, but maybe he had, too. Simply claiming "God told me" does not mean any of us heard 100% correctly.)
Be wary of using the phrase "God told me" in regards to anyone but your own spiritual life. It's dangerous to claim God's authority for what are often your own words. Humility calls us to approach such matters the way the early church did, saying "it seemed good to God and to us..." and admitting when we've heard God wrong.
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