How many of us have ever wanted to know which option to go with from a set of available options, and gone with the very trusty, fail safe “eeny, meeny, miny, moe”? Or used a coin toss?

This reminds me of a joke, Bobby’s coin toss, which I saw online. Bobby had a football game to go to, and by the time Bobby arrived, the football game had already started. “Why are you so late?” asked his friend. “I couldn’t decide between going to church and going to the football game. So I tossed a coin,” said Bobby. “But that shouldn’t have taken too long.” said the friend. “Well, I had to toss it 35 times.”

For most of us though, when we need God’s direction, it is for matters more serious than that. Some decisions may be a matter of life and death, others may be slightly less serious, but still important –  Where to live, who to marry, where to work, who to hire, what we should do with our lives.

And we know that God promises to guide us. Psalms 16:11 (NLT) states “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (CSB) says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.”

We may really have the desire to do what God wants, if only He will just tell us, or give us a sign. But sometimes, we don’t really get a clear cut one. Sometimes we want an angel to appear in our room and tell us what to do. That does happen, but Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist is proof that even an angel cannot erase doubt. Luke 1:18, Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? God’s word translation, “Zechariah said to the angel, “What proof is there for this? I’m an old man, and my wife is beyond her childbearing years.” He literally had an angel standing in front of him, and he was still asking for proof. Isn’t that interesting?

I read something someone wrote the other day, that “I need God to come sit beside me and tell me what to do like I’m 4 years old.” In a way, I felt like I could relate with that, as at that time, I really needed some guidance, but as I thought about it, I asked myself, what is stopping me, or any of us, from sitting with God like His child? It’s certainly not that He’s not available, it’s me, it’s us. We are the ones who can either choose to sit at His feet or busy ourselves with other things.

And it really is a choice. I don’t know if you’ve ever made excuses for why you can’t be close to God, or why God can’t use you, like Moses did in Exodus 4:10, “But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” That may sound humble, but actually right then Moses was pretty much exalting his opinion of himself over God’s opinion of him and God’s decision to use him.

Or maybe you think it’s too late for you, or that you didn’t have a Christian upbringing? Neither did Moses. He grew up in Pharoah’s house, and it was unlikely that they were taught about The Almighty God (Yahweh) there. Which was probably why God used such a striking means to get Moses attention: A burning bush that didn’t burn up. Because at the time, Moses did not really know God. Also, He had this encounter at the age of 40. Which means he was 40 years old when he started getting to know God. God even had to introduce Himself by name, as you do when meeting someone for the first time.

Or, you might think that there are certain people God uses specially, but you’re not one of them. Recently I was studying cognitive biases, which are existing biases we have in our minds about certain things or people. And there’s a phrase used called ‘fundamental attribution error’, What this means is that when assessing someone’s behaviour, people tend to place more emphasis on their personality, predisposition, something innate about them, and underemphasise situations, the environment, the choices they make, the effort involved. So for instance we may totally attribute someone’s success to the fact that they were born a genius, rather than it also being a product of their choices, their decisions, their hard work, their environment etc. As I reflected on this, I wondered if I was guilty of attributing some people’s closeness to God and their ability to hear from Him as something special about them, rather than something they do which I, which pretty much all of us can do.

Then I remembered the verse from James, James 5:17 that reminds us that Elijah was a man of like nature, like passions, in other words, he was just like us. The Amplified Bible says “with the same physical, mental, and spiritual limitations and shortcomings”. And yet he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain for 3 and a half years! What made Him different? He prayed earnestly. How many of us have prayed earnestly? How many of us have been so hungry and thirsty for God’s voice that we have taken out quality time, consistently, to pray – talking and listening to God?

Psalm 42:1-2 the Psalmist says, “As the deer pants for water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. Where can I find him to come and stand before him?” In Revelations 3:20 (ESV), Jesus says “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone (ANYONE) hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” The NLT says “we will share a meal together as friends.” Once upon a time, I used to think that this was an invitation for sinners to come to Jesus, until I read the context of this verse and realised it was actually an excerpt from the letter to the church in Laodicea. As such, this verse was written to the church, to Christians. And there is something quite intimate about that picture, sharing a meal together as friends.

We know that we cannot come to God unless He calls us. In John 6:44 (NLT), Jesus said “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me”. But that applies to the world. When we become Christians, it is up to us to decide how close we want to be to God. Remember that He is a Good Father and we can approach Him anytime. “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4:16, NLT).

If a young child has a good parent, that child is usually not afraid of approaching their parent whenever they want, even during important meetings. They will brazenly ignore ‘do not disturb’ requests, as many parents who have worked from home can testify. Unlike us though, God does not have times when we can’t ‘disturb’ Him.

In Jeremiah 29:13 (ESV), God says “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart”. James 4:8 (NLT) “Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

There were times when God told people to take off their shoes, for where they were standing was Holy Ground. Moses was asked to do so (Exodus 3:5), and Joshua as well (Joshua 5:15). This is usually seen as a sign of humility and reverence for God. Some have also suggested that taking off shoes was a symbol of the fact that shoes were dirty from walking around in the dirt of the world, so to speak, so they needed to be taken off to approach God.

Why do we need to let go of the world to approach God? Proverbs 27:7 (NKJV) says, “A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, But to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” If you’ve ever been so stuffed full of food, almost to the point of bursting, so much so that even the sight of your favourite food does not appeal to you, you will understand why it is possible to become so full of the world that you have no appetite for even something as sweet as God’s word, the Word that is described in the Psalms as sweeter than honey, sweeter than honey in the honey comb.

But when we are hungry and thirsty for God, we will be filled. Jesus says in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

This brings me to my key point, which starts from a desire, a hunger for God Himself: The key to knowing what God wants us to do, is knowing God. It is intimacy with God, being close to God.

We might say, we pray for a few minutes a day, isn’t that enough? But what do you do during those few minutes? How much of it is spent listening to God? If you met someone, and only spent 5 minutes talking to them, do you think that would be sufficient time for them to open up to you? Unless, you already knew them beforehand, chances are it won’t. Which begs the question, what makes us really open up to people? Time, space, trust, an existing relationship. Proverbs 20:5 (NLT) notes that “though good advice lies deep within the heart, a person with understanding will draw it out.” And that kind of ‘drawing out’ takes time.

Mark 4:34 (NLT) records that “In Jesus’ public ministry he never taught without using parables; but afterward, when He was alone with his disciples, He explained everything to them.” In other words, the people Jesus was close to got to know more than the people who were not close to Him. Our closeness to God impacts our ability to hear from Him. If God is whispering to us, and we are far, how can we hear Him above the noise of the world?

It is also important to note that when God sends us somewhere, He goes with us. In Matthew 28:20, Jesus promises “I will be with you always”. There is a difference in the type of directions you would give your child when you’re walking with them, versus when you are sending them somewhere but not going with them. God does not necessarily give us a map outline for our entire lifetime. You do that when you are sending someone out on their own. But when you are walking with someone, if they are on a straight road, you can be quiet or chatting about other things, or just encourage them to keep going, but when it is time for them to make a turn, then you speak up, much like the GPS in our cars. It is also important to add that the GPS needs to be close to you, i.e. in your car. Which is why people keep their GPS close to the wheel, not in the boot of the car. And ideally, it won’t be in the middle of the journey, when you’re stuck and lost, that you quickly start reading the instructions to learn how to install and use the GPS. Hopefully, you will already be familiar with how it works beforehand. Also, if you use it regularly and are following its instructions, chances are you won’t end up confused, you will always know where you’re going, one step at a time.

Walking with God, wanting God’s direction, having a hunger for Him, His voice, should not just be for the times of “big decisions”. It should be our way of life. However, unlike the GPS that exists to serve us, with God, it is the other way round, we exist to serve Him. One thing which we learn from Moses’ example is that it is not about us. It is about God. In Exodus 3:11-15. Moses keeps saying “Who am I?” And God reveals Himself and essentially tells Him, “I (God) will be with you. I am the one who has sent you. I am the I am that I am. I will be who I will be. I won’t be constrained to a limited view or boxed in to fit a description. I can be whatever I want. God reveals Himself as Yahweh. And in verse 15, God tells Moses that He is the God of Moses’ ancestors, the God of the Fathers. So He has a historical antecedent. It’s almost like God is saying, I didn’t just arrive at the scene today, I’ve been here from way back. Take a look at what I’ve done in the past. Then He tells Moses what He is going to do in the future – rescue the Israelites, a rescue which He already had the plans in motion for. Amazing.

And this great God, who is everything and more, in His infinite wisdom, has decided to partner with humans to do His work on Earth. And He has chosen to do so through the mechanism of prayer. God invites us to work with Him to achieve His plans on Earth. ‘On Earth as it is in Heaven’, as the Lord’s prayer says. Prayer and the Word of God are necessary to find out what we are supposed to do.

It is worth remembering that God is not surprised at anything that happens in this World. There is nothing that happens to which He will say, “Wow, I didn’t realise that was going to happen. I’m sorry I haven’t got a plan for that.” He knows everything, He doesn’t make impulsive, rash decisions. He is methodical in the way He sets things up, and the more time we spend with Him, the more we will see His method in the madness that surrounds us today.

Just like close friends, family and couples can communicate with a look, coded language even in a crowded room, if we are close to God, we can understand more of what He says than others around.

There are several examples of people who were so close to God, it almost felt like God was constantly whispering in their ear things that no one else knew. They almost always knew what to do, even when others didn’t, and this made them able to do things no one else could.

The secret? A greater knowledge of God that only comes from a place of intimacy with Him. In Daniel 11:32, we read that those who know their God shall be strong and do great exploits. Proverbs 3:6 CSB says “...in all your ways know Him, and He will make your paths straight.” The Passion Translation says “Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go.”

As such, how can we develop this intimacy with God? I will discuss three people from the Bible who knew what to do, a knowing that came from a place of intimacy with God. Moses himself, Daniel and Jesus. We can learn from them, from what they did.

In several places in Exodus (chapters 19, 20, 24 etc), we read that Moses regularly spent a lot of time with God. Exodus 24:18 records that “Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.” Imagine spending that amount of time with God! And we see that Moses was completely transformed during that time with God. He went from being the person who was complaining about not being great at talking in Exodus 4:10, to being this powerful leader of a whole nation. And in that time, he had to make lots of speeches! But with Moses, these speeches weren’t just mere words, they were backed up with incredible signs, parting the Red Sea being just one of many.

Moses was so close to God that in Numbers 12, we read that when people were complaining, including His sister, saying, ah, ah is it only Moses that God speaks through, God Himself personally responded to Moses’ critics:

Numbers 12:6-8 (NLT) records, “And the Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say: “If there were prophets among you, I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams. But not with my servant Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust. I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the Lord as he is. So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?”

And Miriam, who was criticising Moses, was struck with leprosy. Moses even had to beg God and say, please, heal her, please. This just shows that when we prioritise our closeness, our intimacy with God, God can handle our problems for us.

This does not mean we don’t listen to anyone else or take constructive criticism, because God still uses other people to speak to us. We know from Exodus 18 that Moses listened to his father in law, Jethro’s, advice to delegate, and that made him a better leader. As such God can use members of our church community to speak to us.

However, it was the intimacy Moses had with God that really set Moses apart. And that intimacy also gave Moses audacity with God. In Exodus 33:12-16 (NLT), “Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favour with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” 14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth? ¹⁷ The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favourably on you, and I know you by name.” ¹⁸Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.”“

Moses wasn’t even content to have God send angels with them, nope, he wanted God’s very own presence. Not only that, He asked God to show him His glory. And God honoured his request. Psalm 103:7 also reveals the depth of their relationship. It notes that God “made known his ways (methods, plans) to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel.” The people of Israel saw the acts after they had happened, but Moses knew God’s plans, even before they happened. Wow!

It is worth remembering that Moses wasn’t perfect, he made mistakes. But God is a merciful Father, and our mistakes should not stop us from staying close to Him. Furthermore, as the story of the prodigal son demonstrates, He will still embrace us even if we stray and come back again.

Daniel had a prayer life that was impressively consistent and regular. So much so that even his enemies knew when they could show up at his house and shout ‘gotcha!’ Aside from His regular prayer life though, He had periods of intense prayer sessions, and it was in those times he got some powerful revelations, visions, dreams about what was to happen in the future. He asked God for understanding. Then He went to the Word of God as written by the prophets to confirm it.

From this, we learn a few ways about how God speaks to us: through dreams, visions, people, but more importantly through the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit in us.

We see from Daniel that God communicates through visions and dreams (Daniel 7 and onwards). God Himself communicated the message ensuring the safety of His own son from Herod via a dream (Matthew 2:13). Please don’t discount your dreams. Instead pray about them first thing after waking up. Imagine if Pharoah had discounted his dream, which to be honest did sound like quite a strange dream (skinny cows eating fat cows? Huh? If he did though, the entire world would have suffered a serious famine without any solutions. Sometimes I wonder how many solutions to problems in our world today God has revealed through dreams which have gone ignored? Just a thought anyway.

However the most important way God speaks to us, and tells us what we need to know, is through His Word and the Holy Spirit. The Bible is so full of wisdom. It amazes me sometimes how many times I see something in an article or book on leadership, on life, and I think, ‘that stuff is in the Bible, in Proverbs.’ Frank Skinner called the Bible “a rattlingly good read.” However, it is not just an interesting or exciting book, it is the living, powerful Word of God. We learn about who God is, His character, His ways, His methods, from His Word.

It is very important to note that we need the union of the Word and the Holy Spirit, because we cannot effectively interpret the Word of God without the Holy Spirit, and we need the Word to recognise and discern that it is the Holy Spirit talking to us. 1 Corinthians 2:11 (NLT) states that “No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit in us, as Ephesians 1:13 (CEV) reminds us: “Christ also brought you the truth, the good news about how you can be saved. You put your faith in Christ and were given the promised Holy Spirit to show you belong to God.”

I was reading a book by Jack Deere, ‘Surprised by the voice of God’. In it, he talks about the union of the Word and Spirit as a marriage. He said that “sometimes as Christians, and as the church, we have encouraged a silent divorce between the two. And divorces are painful, both for the parents and child. One parent gets custody, the other gets occasional visits. He notes that “many in the church are content to live with only one parent, they live with the Word, while the Spirit has limited visiting rights and in some cases, the kids don’t even recognise the Spirit anymore. Or vice versa. One set of kids is proud of their education, the other is proud of their freedom. But the parents are broken-hearted because unlike most divorces, they didn’t chose it, their kids did.”

Jesus, the ideal example, embodied the perfect union of the Word and the Spirit. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63, ESV). Jesus knew and studied the scripture, often quoting it, but unlike the religious leaders who also knew the scripture, He had God’s Spirit. He was in continuous communication with His Father, listening to the Spirit of God. He took out time, despite his very busy schedule, to have regular all night prayer sessions. Luke 6:12 (ESV) says “In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.”

If we want to know what to do, and to be fruitful in our walk with God, then Jesus himself tells us in John 15:4 (CEV) “Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me.” Nearness to God is essential.

Intimacy with God also compels us to worship. In Exodus 3:12, God told Moses, “I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain”. It is interesting that the sign God gave Moses wasn’t a present sign, but a future sign. A sign that would take place after the rescue. Which meant it required faith. Faith that God would deliver them. What is the sign that we know God, that we know He has sent us and directs us? That we have faith in Him? Do we have a lifestyle of worship? Of recognising and dwelling in His presence? Of knowledge and a deep reverence for God?

Are we able to recognise and acknowledge God at work everywhere, in everything? Even when the circumstances aren’t exactly screaming that He is at work? The closer we walk with God, the more we can see His hand at work in our lives. When we know God intimately, who He is, what He has done, what He is doing, what He can do, we can’t help but worship Him.

In a previous blogpost, In His Presence, I noted the following about acknowledging God’s presence: “God is with us, He is omnipresent, but we also know that someone can be present, and yet we don’t engage with them. It is like having a guest in your house, but being focused on your phone instead of communing with your guest. Our hearts can burn within us in God’s presence, and yet we can be spiritually blind to it. C.S. Lewis says “We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito”. In Psalm 139:7-12, David eloquently expresses God’s omnipresence. Psalm 139 is a reminder that we cannot escape His presence, whether in the highest Heavens or in the depths of the sea. As Richard Rohr puts it, “We cannot attain the presence of God because we are already totally in the presence of God. What is absent is awareness.”

I quoted Psalm 16:11 earlier, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore”. But when we read the context, the full passage, earlier in verse 8, it says “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” The GNT says “I am always aware of the Lord’s presence.”

It is so important that our eyes are open to God’s presence in our lives, and that we fully come into, and engage with His presence. The world and its distractions may blind our eyes, or mellow the flame burning in our hearts. But intimacy with God is so important. As A.W. Tozer notes, “the importance of coming into God’s presence is worth overcoming all obstacles along the way”.

We won’t always get it right, there may be times when we won’t even feel like praying, times when we may wonder if God is listening. I’ve had such times myself, but if we press on and not faint, if we persist in prayer, God will show Himself strong on our behalf. Remember that the more time we spend with God, the more our faith grows. Converesely, our doubts grow the more time we spend away from Him.

In summary, the way to know is to get to know God, primarily through the marriage of His Word and His Spirit. And we hear from the Spirit when we are in continuous, ongoing communication with God. Spending time with Him… worshipping, listening, talking, savouring the silence. As we do so, not only will we know what to do, we will bear much fruit, and do great exploits for God. Amen.

Image Source here.