Personal Words From God

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that Christians like to claim that God personally told them to do whatever it is they’re doing. It’s quite common to hear things like “God told me to preach this message” or “God told me to phone that person” or “God told me to make that decision”. In each case, people are claiming that they were not acting of their own accord; instead, God Himself ordered them to do whatever it was they did. They were acting under Divine Command.

This phenomenon greatly disturbs me. Whenever someone begins a sentence with “God told me…” I inwardly wince. As soon as a person claims that they were acting under the direct command of God they instantly make themselves unaccountable. Any criticism of their actions becomes impossible. After all, it wasn’t their idea; they were just doing what God told them to do! God said jump, so they jumped. You can’t even have a rational discussion about what they just did, because any criticism of them instantly becomes criticism of God. Saying “God made me do it” is an easy way to make sure that no one can question your actions; it grants complete immunity.

However, does God actually speak to people in that manner? Does God really talk to people today and send them Divine messages telling them what to do and when to do it? I am convinced that the answer is no. God speaks to us through His Word, and although He does guide our lives and watch over us, He does not speak to us directly. He may use our consciences to convict us and He may use our friends to remind us of the truth, but God is no longer in the business of talking directly to His people. That is not how He is working in this era of history.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that the Bible is all the divine revelation that we need:

2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

This passage says that the Scriptures have been given to us so that we can be perfect. It tells us that the material it contains within its pages is enough to thoroughly furnish us for all good works. In other words, there are no good works that are outside its scope. The Bible says that it has 100% of the divine revelation that we need in order to live in this Age. No other revelation is necessary.

Now, that statement is either true or it is false. If it is true then we do not need a “personal word from God”. We do not need God to divinely speak to us because He has already told us everything we need to know in His Word. God has already spoken; all we need to do is read what He has said.

However, if God does speak to His people today then 2 Timothy 3:17 is a lie. It means that the Bible is not enough and that we need additional information that God failed to supply. It means that the Bible does not fully equip us for life and leaves us unprepared for many situations, and our only hope is for God to speak to us directly and fill in the critical information that was left out of the Bible. Since this train of thought is utterly ridiculous (every word in the Bible is true, including 2 Timothy 3:17), then that means that there are no such things as personal words from God.

But, some may say, isn’t it true that God used to speak directly to His people? Didn’t God speak to men through dreams, and angels, and so forth? Yes He did, but the Bible tells us that He no longer does that. His method of speaking to us has changed:

Hebrews 1:1: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”

As you can see, things are different now. In the past God spoke in many ways, but now God only speaks to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. The words and teachings of His Son can be found written in the New Testament. What was written is complete; we do not need anything more than what the Scripture provides.

People have this idea that all throughout time God has led His people by speaking directly to them, but that is not the case. Very few people in the Bible were ever spoken to directly by God. According to Dr. Sam Kurien, “The only individuals who heard from God more than twice in the Old Testament are Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Aaron, Joshua, David and Solomon. These eight and no more!” Hearing from God was not common; it was rare. There are large numbers of prominent Bible characters who never heard from God even one time, as Gary Gilley points out:

“Below are some of the important characters found in the Old Testament who never heard directly from God as far as we know: Caleb, Esther, Mordecai, Ruth, Joab, Hezekiah, Josiah, Jehoshapat, Jonathan, most of the judges, Ezra, Nehemiah, Shadrack, Meshach and Abd-nego (although they may have been comforted by the Son in the fire). In addition whole categories of key leaders never heard from God personally, including none of Jacob’s sons except Joseph, none of the kings of Judah after Solomon, none of the judges except for Gideon, none of the returning exiles and none of David’s mighty men or military leaders. This is just a sampling; many more could be cited.” (Gary Gilley)

On top of that, when God did speak He did so in a very direct and obvious manner. As Dr. Sam Kurien pointed out, “When God spoke, it was in an audible voice, or on occasions through a vision or dream. There is not a single instance of God speaking to the mind or heart inaudibly through an inner voice.” People today like to say that “God spoke to my heart”, but never one time in the entire Bible did God ever speak to anyone in that manner. There is zero Biblical evidence that God communicates that way. The Holy Spirit does convict sinners and does help us understand the Scriptures, but even the Spirit is never depicted as whispering to a person’s heart. There is not one case of that anywhere in the Bible.

Moreover, when God did speak in times past He talked about big-picture issues, not personal life decisions:

“When God did speak in Scripture it almost always dealt with the big picture of what God was doing in the outworking of His redemption program or the life of His people in general. You will search in vain to find God telling people what job to take, how many donkeys to buy, or what land to purchase — except as it was related to the bigger issue of God’s dealings with His people.” (Gary Gilley)

People today have this idea that, when they are faced with a decision, they can ask God what to do and God will divinely speak to them and tell them what decision to make. The problem with this idea is that the Bible simply does not support it. This type of divine advice was exceedingly rare in the Bible. There were a few men – like King David – who inquired of God, but extremely few people had that privilege, and those who did it used it only in the most extreme of circumstances. It has never been an ordinary experience for the average believer.

You will simply not find any verses in the Old or New Testament that say “When you are faced with a decision, ask God about it and He will divinely impress upon your heart the correct decision.” God guides us, yes, but not through direct revelation; instead He speaks to us through His Word. God does shape our lives, but He does so by His divine power – the same power He uses to raise up nations and cast them down. God is not sitting in Heaven hoping that you will make the right decision so that His plans will work.

But, you might say, isn’t all of this negated by the fact that person words really do exist? After all, God really does speak to people and tell them to do things – sometimes even audibly! People pray for guidance, and then in their minds they suddenly know what to do. Sometimes people suddenly get the urge to call someone, and lo and behold something good comes of it. Isn’t that proof that God really does speak to His children today?

I’m afraid not. You see, there is an enormous difference between “I suddenly knew what to do” and “God Himself told me which choice was right and commanded me to take it”. Likewise, there is a big leap between “I heard an audible voice” and “That voice was definitely God”. In each case, you are deciding that the voice must be from God. You are ruling out the notion that it might be your own idea, and the reason you are ruling it out is because you believe that God talks directly to His children. Therefore, if you ask God what to do and you suddenly think of something, you are deciding that whatever you thought of must have come from God. But that is not the only possible explanation.

You see, God cannot lie, and God cannot be wrong. Whenever God speaks He speaks authoritatively. In fact, the way prophets were tested was by evaluating the outcome of their predictions. If they got anything wrong then they were false prophets and were to be executed:

Deuteronomy 18:20: “But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?
22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”

So what about these “personal words from God”? Are they 100% accurate? I’m afraid not. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they don’t. When something good happens then people “know” it was from God, but when things go terribly wrong then they say that they “misunderstood” – or they blame God for giving them bad advice! These “personal words from God” cannot be trusted 100% of the time – and that is bad news. A prophet that had that kind of track record was labeled a false prophet and was not to be trusted at all.

In other words, the Bible has a lot of negative things to say about these “personal words from God”. The Bible says that it is all we need to thoroughly furnish us for all good works and that no other revelation is required. It says that God has stopped speaking to people through dreams and visions and direct revelation, and now speaks to us through His Son. It says that very few people in all of history have heard directly from God Himself, and that God has never talked to anyone by directly impressing something upon their mind. It also said that anything that was not accurate 100% of the time was not the voice of God.

All of this very strongly implies that “personal words from God” are just our attempt to dodge responsibility for our own actions. Instead of being honest and saying “I decided to do that”, we claim that it was God’s doing and we can’t be held responsible. Instead of admitting that perhaps the vision was not from God or that perhaps the dream really was just a dream, we claim that God is giving us extra information that He did not include in the Bible – information that we somehow have to have, even though 2 Timothy 3:17 says the Bible is enough to cover all situations that we will ever encounter.

That last point often gets overlooked. If personal words from God exist, then the Bible is an open book that can be added to at any time by anyone who claims to have heard from God. It means that the Bible isn’t finished, but is a work in progress that is being constantly enlarged. After all, it’s impossible for Jesus to speak with anything less than absolute authority! If Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, told someone something, then whatever He said is absolute truth and we should add it to our Bibles. If Jesus gave someone a tour of Heaven and revealed all kinds of new information, then we should add a new book to the Scriptures because Jesus has spoken, and every one of His words is flawless. It means that we should be busy collecting all of this new revelation and adding it to our Bibles, so that everyone can know what else Jesus has to say.

The Bible does not support the idea that it is an open book that can be added to as the need arises. We are told that we should contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints:

Jude 1:3: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

You can search your Bible from cover to cover and you will never find any verse that says “The Scripture is a work in progress and there is a whole lot more stuff to add as time goes on, so stay tuned for more.” The Bible is a closed book; you cannot add to it a Book of Mormon or a Book of Things That Jesus Told Me Directly.

This is how one person put it:

“The doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture does not imply that God cannot add any more words to those he has already spoken to his people. It rather implies that man cannot add on his own initiative any words to those that God has already spoken. Furthermore, it implies that in fact God has not spoken to mankind any more words which he requires us to believe or obey other than those which we have now in the Bible.” (Grudem)

Does this mean that God will never speak to His people again? Of course not. But it does mean that for now, in this Age and in this life, the Bible is all that we need. When we crave a “personal word from God”, we are telling God that His Word is not enough – that God left out important information that we cannot live without. We are telling Him that His Word does not thoroughly equip us for all good works; we need something more in order to get by. That does not honor God and it does not honor His Word.

In conclusion, I think it is a bad thing to say “God told me to make that decision”, and I think it is a grave error to claim new divine revelation. There are no personal words from God; the Bible is all that we have been given, and it really is all that we need.