Listening for God's Voice

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, January 28th, 2024:
 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Deuteronomy
18.15-20 ​

Moses spoke to the people; he said: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own kin; you shall heed such a Prophet. This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: ‘Let me not hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, lest I die.’

“Then the Lord replied to me: ‘They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their own kin; I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him. Anyone who does not heed the words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will hold him accountable. But any Prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak — that Prophet shall die.’”

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

In our modern world, when we hear prophecy, we often have a very specific idea in mind: someone who knows the future for certain, who speaks of this future in mysterious language. Those who hear the prophecy can only try to understand it, and any attempts to defy it will fail. (Indeed, often those attempts are what make it come to pass.) This is how today’s literature and movies often portray prophecy, but the biblical concept of prophecy is very different. 
 
Biblical prophecy is typically direct. God doesn’t play games with us. He wants to set us up for success, and His prophecies are clear and not easily misunderstood. Even when we look at truly ancient texts, like those that make up the Old Testament, biblical scholars can easily identify over 300 prophecies that directly predicted the coming of Jesus. 
 
Perhaps more importantly, biblical prophecy is not a guarantee. Indeed, in many cases, God’s hope was that the prophecies would not come to pass! Prophecies typically speak of how the future could be, with negative prophecies encouraging God’s people to repent of their sin and positive prophecies encouraging them to continue in righteousness and holiness. Repentance led to forgiveness, like the city of Nineveh, which repented as soon as they heard Jonah’s prophecy. 
 
This can lead to some philosophical confusion. Doesn’t God know everything that has happened and will happen? If yes, how can prophecies leave us open to an uncertain future? 
 
Many different people have tried to answer this question. The answer most compelling to me draws on the way we relate to God – that is, our free will. God did not make us robots that are instantly obedient to Him. He could have, but He wanted more for us. He wanted us to choose to love Him and, in order to choose, we need freedom. The free will God gives us means that we are free to choose Him, and we are free not to. Like a loving parent, when we push ourselves away from God He continues to seek us out. In this context, prophecies are for us – they’re an opportunity to hear God’s voice and to decide to turn toward Him. 
 
He knows whether or not we’ll come back to him at any given opportunity, but what’s truly important is that we know He’s trying. Prophecy is one of many ways God shows His love for us by reaching out to us. 
 
Today’s Christians understand biblical prophecy as a gift of the Holy Spirit. It is a gift still alive and well today! If you’ve heard God’s voice speaking clearly to you, or if you’ve heard a pastor preach and it seemed to be aimed directly at you, there’s a good chance you’ve experienced the gift of prophecy. Discernment is important – God’s voice usually comes with a deep sense of peace and clarity, and listening to Him bears beautiful fruit. He is always seeking us, from the time of Moses to the modern day, and He delights every time we hear His voice.


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Jenna Young

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