"God Speaks to You"
Not long ago, I bought a devotional book, 365 Essential Questions from the Bible? which admittedly sounds ambitious, but it only cost a buck. It's written by several denominational men, and their handling of the Scriptures is loose, to say the least. Once in a while they set forth a good idea, but the thoughts expressed for day 220 are not suitable.
The text is from Habakkuk 2:19 from the New Living Translation, which is a paraphrase instead of a translation. The question is: "Can an idol tell you what to do?" The answer, of course is, "No, because it's an idol and not alive." "There is no breath in it." The first two paragraphs of the devotional are fine, since they discuss the futility of idols, including the statement that God "speaks into your life every time you read your Bible with a believing expectant attitude." Idols cannot speak, but God has spoken. This sentence presumes that the Bible is not a dead letter but still "living and powerful" (Heb. 4:12)\In the the last paragraph, however, the authors add that "God often speaks in your heart with the 'still small voice' of His Spirit" (1 Kings 19:12 KJV).
In the last paragraph, however, the authors add that "God often speaks in your heart with the 'still small voice' of His Spirit" (1 Kings 19:12 KJV). The point in 1 Kings is that God's voice need not always be thunderous. He did not on this occasion speak in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire. Instead it was a small still voice. However, no application is made from this verse to Christians. How do the authors understand it? They write: "The problem is, however, that you may think it's just a thought from your own mind and ignore it." No, the problem is just the opposite—that people think their thoughts are God speaking to them.
Does 1 Kings 19:12 say the still small voice was within Elijah? Not at all. The voice, no matter how quiet, was external to the prophet. The next verse adds that, when Elijah heard the voice, he went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. "And suddenly a voice came to him, and said, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?'" (v. 13). A conversation between God and Elijah ensued. No one could prove it was internal, but even if it were, it would not authorize listening for such messages from God today. Elijah was a prophet. No one is a prophet today. God is not slipping Divine communications into our thoughts. Not only is this false doctrine, it is exceedingly dangerous. It replaces the objective Word that actually comes from God with our own subjective thinking. We may as well listen to idols as our own rationale. While we are at it, we might as well throw away the Scriptures if God is going to speak to each of us directly. If the still small voice is telling us to do what the Scriptures say, then what is its purpose, since it's in the Word? Our own thoughts are reminding us of what we have learned. If the voice tells us to do what is contrary to the Scriptures, they are our own ideas and should be rejected. We must rely only upon the revealed Word.