Hearing God...or Not

“The Lord said… ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name…I will show him…’” Acts 9:15

Although Paul had experienced direct communication from God on the road to Damascus, God chose to use another man to confirm God’s plan for Paul’s future. For a period of time, Paul was blinded and only regained his sight through God’s chosen instrument, Ananias. God did not give either man the details of the call but rather a global glimpse of His plan.

God’s communication with us can be glorious when hearing from Him or frustrating during His silence. Paul had an experience wherein God was silent to Him but confirmed the end result with His chosen messenger. Then God went on to say to Ananias, ‘Go, confirm and leave the rest to me…I will take it from here.’

God may give us ‘global glimpses’ of where He is taking us but usually will not give us the detailed plan. He knows to reveal the details would end up frustrating His purposes and plans for us. In some cases it could even provide a foothold for Satan. Satan cannot read minds so to reveal too much could give Satan a tip into how God is moving. Consider Paul, if God had laid out the details of Paul’s suffering his human nature might have caused His message to be laced with fear and been less effective. If Satan had seen the details up front he would have known exactly how to present things to Paul that would have triggered the old self – Saul.

God reveals the details of His plan for each of us one step at a time. He knows that each revealing must match the condition of our heart and the devotion of our faith. God will frequently allow our circumstances to operate beyond our faith to grow us and build our testimonies. We will only see our global glimpses become reality when we have walked step by step in His details as they are revealed. No one can know God for you and you cannot know God for someone else.“The Lord said… ‘I will show him…’”