Is it possible to attend church week by week, listen to sermons, engage in all the activities of church life, to perhaps even read this article, but never really hear the voice of God? Absolutely!
Our membership in a renewal movement or an evangelical group does not guarantee that we will hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to us personally, or to our generation. Amos prophesied of a day when God would "send a famine in the land", but "not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD" (Amos 8:11).
He spoke to Israel during a time of almost unparalleled growth and prosperity. Like the Western church the people of God had been lulled into a false sense of security trusting in their material strength even while they continued to worship the Lord. They celebrated their feasts, gathered in their assemblies, and gave their offerings, but the heart of God was grieved. In fact he told them, "I hate, I despise your feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings...I will not accept them...I will have no regard for them." (5:21,22). Their worship, to him, was an affront. Like us they made music and delighted in the sound of their songs. They celebrated in their conferences and great assemblies, but the Lord only responded, "Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps." (v 23)
Why was this? Was God just being difficult? Or was there a real grievance surfacing from the violation of his holy nature? If so, what was the issue? Very simply, Israel had rejected the law and therefore the Lord himself. Amos, true to the prophetic oracle, called the people back from their worship of other gods to the touchstone of the covenant. He saw that while maintaining an external expression of their worship toward the Lord they had, in fact, "rejected the law" and had been "led astray by false gods" (2:4).
The Cry of a Passionate God for Holiness & Intimacy
But what was the significance of rejecting the law? At its heart the law was a covenant-bond between a lover and the beloved. This is seen in what is called the 'shema' of Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength." The white-hot core of the covenant was the cry of a passionate God to be intimate with his people. And it called forth their total and exclusive devotion. Therefore, the heart of God, as revealed by the prophets, was constantly expressed as the heart of an aggrieved lover. And so the prophetic oracle even in our day will consistently call us, as God's people, back to the heart of love, to a complete surrender to the lover of our souls. But are we hearing that call?
It is significant that the 'shema', encapsulating the heart of the covenant relationship, was so called after the first word of Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 - the Hebrew word for 'hear'. We have already mentioned that Amos spoke of a "famine, not of bread, but of 'hearing' the word of the Lord" (8:11). This is exactly the same word (shema) as used in Deuteronomy.
So, the famine was for 'hearing' the heart of God calling them back to holiness and intimacy, back to a passionate love relationship with him.
False Gods
But, here was the rub. A love relationship with the Lord required the giving up other 'lovers', forsaking the false gods of the surrounding nations. But what were those gods? And what was their dominant idolatry? Soon after entering the land Israel had taken on-board the supreme Canaanite deity, Baal, and bowed to his promise of 'fecundity' , of fruitful crops and wombs. Represented in the worship of a bull, the symbol of power and virility, Baal had become, in their minds at least, their prime source of productivity and power. He had given them their security and sense of ease in unusually prosperous times.
But in reality, the superior leadership skills of Jeroboam II in Israel and Uzziah in Judah, had expanded their borders and increased their wealth. And this, only surpassed by Solomon's reign. Human skill, strength, and leadership had become their actual saviours.
The Idolatry of the Contemporary Church
The parallels with the early 21st Century church are all too obvious. We too have bowed to the Baals of productivity and power as we pursue the latest fads and formulas of church growth. Driven by the tyranny of success we have sought to grow the largest churches and build the best ministries. Pastors and people alike are caught on the treadmill of church activity to produce more and better results. We too through human programming and strength of leadership are looking to expand our territory, to increase our size. And like Amos's generation when we reach a measure of success we become secure and self-satisfied. We then spend our energy and resources in maintaining the status quo, in preserving our comfort zones. But the prophetic word speaks into our condition by declaring, "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation...Go to Calneh and look at it...and...to great Hamath...Are they better off than your two kingdoms? Is their land larger than yours? You put off the evil day and bring near a reign of terror. You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs...You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments...but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph." (6:1-6).
We must ask ourselves some hard questions. What are we moved by? Are we more motivated by the latest in contemporary "worship" music, for our sanctuary's need of plush carpet and padded seats, or for ministry success, than by the "the ruin of Joseph", the true spiritual condition of the church and the culture?
Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing
Someone has said, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing". But tragically we have been distracted and made everything else the "main thing". We have looked to music, or leadership excellence, or a building program, or perhaps the latest techniques and methods of growing our church and ministry as the "main thing". If at the end of the day, having done all the seminars, read all the books, and tried all the formulas we're no closer to Jesus we need to be asking ourselves what its all about. We need to be asking, "God, what really is the 'main thing'?"
When Jesus came he provided the answer. He exclusively reinforced, in no uncertain terms, the 'shema' as the "main thing". Ruthlessly, but with a deep pathos, he narrowed down the purpose of our existence to only one non-negotiable thing.
Asked as to which was the greatest commandment he responded by quoting from Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4, "'Hear ('shema'), O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments." (Mtt 22:37-40 & Mk 12:28-31).
God's nature nor purpose changed with the transition from the old to the new covenant. From the failure of our first parents, through to the chronic backslidings of Israel, and to the contemporary church the heart and purpose of God remain the same. The eternal purpose of God expressed through all the law and the prophets is summed up and fulfilled in this one thing: to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
The "main thing" is therefore only discovered in our response to the "Great Heart of God", to pure, passionate love.
Understanding the Character of God & His Judgements
But because God is the Lord and his love is holy there are consequences. When we respond to his love in humility and openness we experience the positive reinforcement of his presence and pleasure and often see it in an increase of blessing. But if we spurn or ignore his tender ministrations we ultimately invite his chastisements, his disciplines, until we return to him. For individuals, families, churches, and even nations either the blessings or the cursings of the covenant (Deut. 28 & Lev. 26) kick in according to our handling of the Great Commandment - as to whether or not we "love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind". Our response either releases the kingdom in blessing or in judgement.
But to receive this word we must resolve any confusion we have about the character of God and his judgments. As our heavenly Father he is loving, full of compassion, and slow to anger delighting over us and enjoying our intimacy. But he is also just. We are exhorted to "Behold, his goodness and severity". We see this most clearly in the Cross as the consummate expression of mercy and truth having kissed each other, of God's goodness and justice being reconciled.
As with the Cross the goodness of God, sometimes, can only be expressed through his severity. When, repeatedly, we refuse to respond to the tender ministrations of his love (the blessings of the covenant) he will, in mercy, send more severe ministrations (the cursings of the covenant) until we return to him. Quite simply, God's love is tough.
Distinguishing Between Two Kinds of Judgement
This is where we must distinguish between two kinds of judgement: eschatological and remedial. The former refers to the final and eternal judgements (rewards and eternal destinies) while the latter to the chastisements of a loving Father which are designed to restore his children to himself. They are sent from the hand of a tender-loving God to set us free from the idolatry of self and the deceptiveness of sin so that we might share in his own holy nature (Heb. 12:7-10).
The curses of the covenant (Deut. 28 & Lev. 26) are of this second kind - remedial. If we do not hear the voice of God through his goodness, perhaps we'll hear it through his severity. This has been the history and experience of Israel from the days of the judges, through the kings, and their various captivities and diasporas to this present day. Israel still remains under God's remedial discipline as does, in my view, the Western church.
Hearing God through September 11
Twelve months on from the attacks on New York and Washington it is time to reflect. Have we heard the Lord through these attacks? If so, what is he saying and have we responded to him? Or, have we been too occupied with the very real and necessary process of comforting and grieving, and perhaps, through a miss-guided patriotism, even explaining away these horrific attacks as merely a Satanic attack on America.
If God's purpose and nature have not changed between covenants. And, if the shema, through the Great Commandment remains as the "main thing" it will provide the touchstone to understand God's dealings with us, the grid through which we can interpret what otherwise could seem to be arbitrary and meaningless events. Through the lens of God's covenant-love, of the Great Commandment, we can now begin to make out, however dimly, the hand of a loving but just God in natural disasters, recession, and war (see Deut. 28 & Lev. 26). Not that God is the author of evil, but as the sovereign creator-God even the wrath of man will praise him. He will use Cyrus as his anointed. Pagan kings, religions, and ideologies, including nature itself will all be used to bring to pass his good purpose. Through these things a loving Father will bring to bear his rod of discipline to restore his kids to himself.
But if they do not hear his voice, his appeal, through those disciplines they will only increase in their severity. Both the law and the prophets show that the remedial judgements of God become incremental if his people do not listen and turn. It seems to me that the Western church and culture are in this process right now, and have been for at least the last 90 years. From the sinking of the Titanic, through two catastrophic World Wars, a major depression, to the more recently shifting climate and weather patterns, various economic recessions, and now a fresh radical Islamic insurgence God is after our attention. He is speaking to us, but it seems to me that, on the whole, the Western church and culture are not listening. He is calling to us from a heart of holy passion but we continue headlong in our pursuit of other gods.
This is not to say there are not tremendously encouraging signs. There are. The world-wide intercessory prayer movement, reflected in countless global, national, and regional prayer initiatives crossing all denominational boundaries, the emerging city-wide church, pastors prayer movements, and 24/7 prayer movements are all signs that there is a mighty subterranean shift occurring, that God is at work bringing the church back to himself. But there is, I sense, a prophetic urgency. There is an acceleration and intensification of both the blessing and the judgement of God. The hour is far later than we have thought. And now is the time to cast our idols to the ground, to humble ourselves and pray.
A God Who Relents
This is the good news, that if we do turn to the Lord in wholesale repentance and brokenness he will relent of the evil, the remedial judgements and disasters, that are most certainly coming our way. The Lord declared through Jeremiah, "The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, "if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. "And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, "if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it." (Jer. 18:7-10). But the opposite is also true, that if as a church and as a culture we do not hear his voice and turn, he will also relent of the good that he has spoken over us.
God is compassionate and slow to anger and therefore it is his nature to relent when we turn to him: " Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing…" (Joel 2:13-14).
"Take heed how you hear"
Therefore, let us take heed how we hear. Jesus warned the disciples to be careful about their hearing: "For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. "Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him." (Lk. 8:17-18). How we hear will cause us to walk either in darkness or in the light and therefore either in the blessing or the judgement of God.
The words that Jesus speaks are spirit and life, but if our hearts are hardened all we hear are physical words - sounds waves hitting our eardrums, but nothing hitting our spirit. In the anatomy of the spiritual life our hearing is always connected to our hearts. The only reason we sit in church week by week hearing sermon after sermon and remain unchanged is that our hearts have become hardened. 'Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused...'" (Mtt. 13:13-15).
There is a sound being heard by this generation, but are we listening? Are we only hearing words - the words of a man, of a preacher or writer, but never hearing the voice of God. As Amos prophesied, there would be a famine for hearing.
Therefore, let us humble our hearts until we can hear the voice of the Spirit and the Bride saying, 'Come'. Now is the time to turn from the idols of the heart - from our comfort zones of personal significance and success to the Lord.
Father, help us to hear the cry of your heart for us. May it break us and turn us again to you.
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Copyright © David Orton 2002
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