Hearing and Obeying His Voice
Satan is always trying to sidetrack us from Yahweh’s (Yah’s) Way. Typically what he does is to give us a substitute that looks like Yah’s Way, but which is not Yah’s Way. These substitutes are usually easier, more pleasurable, and promise the same eternal reward for less effort. But something is wrong with these false ways; and yet Yah’s people fall for these substitutes over and over again, in Scripture and throughout time.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 3:1-6
3 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which Yahweh Elohim had made. And he said to the woman, "Has Elohim indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, Elohim has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
5 For Elohim knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Elohim, knowing good and evil."
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
When Satan told the woman “you shall be like Elohim, knowing good and evil,” the implication was that she (Israel) would be Elohim’s equal, and could make up her own mind about what was right and wrong. This is precisely what Satan wants us to believe, because if we think we do not need to listen to Yahweh, then we have effectively joined Satan in his rebellion.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 14:12-14
12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of Elohim; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'”
Because our flesh is inherently prideful, we have a built-in tendency to want to think for ourselves, and do our own thing. We do not want to submit ourselves to Yahweh’s sovereignty over us, because we want to be sovereign over our own lives; and this is precisely why Elohim asks us to demonstrate our love and devotion to Him through obedience to His commands.
Yochanan (John) 14:15
15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
Our flesh hates obedience. In our flesh we do not want to obey any Spirit. We do not want to have to listen for His voice, or submit to it. Instead, like unruly teenagers, we want to do what seems good and right in our own eyes (and not His). This is why the woman believed Satan’s lie.
In Scripture, women often represent spiritual bodies, and the woman in Genesis 3 symbolizes Israel. Satan wants her to believe that she can disobey Yahweh’s commandments, and that Yahweh will still give her eternal life (and take her in marriage). It is ridiculous to think that Yahweh would reward her disobedience and rebellion with eternal life (and bride-hood), when these were the things that got Satan cast out of heaven, but because all flesh is inherently rebellious and prideful, her flesh wants her to believe the lie.
Gazing upon the fruit of disobedience, the woman (i.e., Israel) saw that it was good for food (tempting the lusts of the flesh), that it was pleasant to the eyes (tempting the lust of the eyes), and that it was desirable to make her worldly-wise (which appealed to her pride). Though the woman knew what Yahweh had said, these worldly pleasures appealed more to her than the prospect of obedience; and in the language of Scripture, this meant she “loved the world more than she loved the Father.”
Yochanan Aleph (1st John) 2:15-17
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of Elohim abides forever.
What so many people miss is that we do not get to “have things both ways.” Either we love Elohim and obey Him continually, or we love the things of the world; but we cannot serve both at the same time.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 6:24
24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve (both) Elohim and mammon.”
Yahweh is a jealous Elohim, and He is jealous of our attention. He wants us to base all of our decisions on His words alone. In His eyes, if we make decisions based on any other consideration, then He feels we are “worshipping” and “serving” those other things (instead of Him). Scripture tells us we cannot “have things both ways.” Yahweh wants us to choose. We cannot tune out His voice and make decisions based on the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, pride, mammon, or any other consideration, and honestly say we “worshipped and served” Yahweh during that time.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 6:31-33
31 "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first the kingdom of Elohim and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Obviously, most of us have to do some kind of work in order to survive, but there should never be a time when we stop listening for His voice to tell us what to do, and we begin making up our own minds as to what we should do. That is the definition of “doing what seems good and right in our own eyes.”
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 12:8-10
8 "You shall not at all do as we are doing here today — every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes —
9 for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which Yahweh your Elohim is giving you.”
Ya’akov (James) tells us the reason there are wars and fighting between believers is that we do not really obey like we are supposed to. We have not really submitted. We have not really given up our desires, and handed control of our lives over to Yahweh. We ask for things not for the purpose of furthering Yeshua’s kingdom, but only so we can live pleasurable lives.
Ya’akov (James) 4:1-5
1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with Elohim? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of Elohim.
5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"?
We have not given our lives over to Yahweh’s voice.
Shemote (Exodus) 19:5
5 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.”
There are two commandments here. One is to keep His covenant (the Torah), while the other one is to obey His voice. This is the same as the Still Small Voice Eliyahu (Elijah) heard.
Melachim Aleph (1st Kings) 19:11-12
11 Then He said, "Go out, and stand on the mountain before Yahweh." And behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before Yahweh, but Yahweh was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake;
12 and after the earthquake a fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
The world makes fun of us for “hearing voices,” but the requirement to hear and obey the voice of the Spirit is very plain in Scripture. It is not a loud voice, and it never contends. It is very soft, quiet and still; and we have to want to obey it even to be able to hear it over our own voice (our ego, or will).
Bemidbar (Numbers) 14:20-23
20 Then Yahweh said: "I have pardoned, according to your word;
21 but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Yahweh —
22 because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice,
23 they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.”
Yahweh tells us that “not to heed His voice” is to reject Him. It does not lead to His rest.
It is sometimes said that prayer is when we talk to Yahweh, and meditation is when we listen. It is also sometimes said that Yahweh wants us to listen more than we pray, because Yahweh gives us two ears, but only one mouth. However, the idea that Yahweh would want to be in communication with us seems strange to some; and yet this is precisely what Yeshua speaks of when He talks about “abiding in the Vine.” He is talking about restoring direct communication with the Spirit.
Yochanan (John) 15:4-8
4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”
Yahweh is glorified when we make the effort to listen to His voice each and every moment of every day, and base all of our decisions on His voice, rather than on our thoughts alone. It glorifies Him, because He is the only reason we would modify our lives in this way.
It can be difficult to learn to hear and obey Yahweh’s voice, as demons also have voices (which clamor for our attention). However, we can always know when we are hearing Yahweh’s voice, because it is still, small, quiet, calm, and confident. It never contends. It just waits quietly to be acknowledged, and obeyed.
It is difficult to obey a still small voice that one has to focus upon, just to hear. It is also difficult to want to obey such a voice when it is always checking our natural urges and impulses; yet that is what we must do. Our job is to learn how to overcome our fleshly desires, with His help. All in all, it makes for a narrow, afflicted and difficult spiritual path.
Mattityahu (Matthew )7:13-14
13 "Enter by the narrow gate! For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
There are many ways we can inadvertently step off of this narrow and difficult path, and we will talk more about them in the next chapter.