Exploring Dependence – God’s Guidance in the Old Testament

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God gets blamed for a lot of stuff.

When Kasie and I were in Bible College, the church we attended had an extensive children’s ministry, which, of course, required a lot of workers. Two of these workers, a man and a woman, – married, but not to each other – were convinced that God was leading them to divorce their spouses and run off together to get married.  In Vegas.

Also from Bible College comes the story of the guy who got rid of all his clocks because he believed that God would tell him when it was time to do whatever he needed to do. And when he got dressed, he didn’t need to turn on the light in his closet. God would direct him in his clothes selection. You can imagine his sense of fashion…

People claim God’s leading to justify all kinds of conclusions and actions. Some seem very reasonable and understandable. Others are simply indefensible.

Such claims of God’s leading are diametrically opposed to what I believed at the time – that the only communication we can expect from God is what is written in Scripture. 

Two extremes to be sure, but are either right? Does the truth lie somewhere in the middle? How do we know? Are we left to our own assumptions? Best-guesses?

So, here’s the issue. We have seen that we are dependent upon God at the most basic level. He is the true source of our Provision and Protection. And His Provision and Protection are experienced in the context of His Guidance. Which raises the critical question, “How do we experience His Guidance?” Does God communicate with us directly? If so, how?

We’ve already seen how unreliable circumstances can be in our pursuit of divine guidance. Are we merely left with instructions that are over 2000 years old, as I assumed in my early years? Or is there more?

From a practical perspective, it seems that some kind of clear, direct, regular, communication from God would be simplest. Something like a daily email explaining God’s thoughts and actions, and giving us the whys and hows for our life. Eliminate any ambiguity, any misunderstanding.

But is that what we can expect? A survey of the Scriptures would indicate not.

While God seems to have talked directly to men of antiquity, like Adam, Noah, and Abraham (Genesis 2:16-17; 6:13-22; 12:1-3, et. al.) it does not appear to have been continuous, nor to have contained all the information that might have been “helpful.”

Although God gave Adam instructions about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:16-17), He did not, as John Eldredge has pointed out, give him a heads-up about the pending encounter between Eve and the snake, that day in the Garden.

And, while Abraham had the promise of a Seed, through Whom all the nations of the world would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3), he didn’t have many details of the plan. If he had, he could have avoided the whole Hagar Solution (Genesis 16) and all the turmoil we are experiencing four millennia later. Seems like that would have been very helpful information to have.

So, even with these men who did have direct communication with God, the communication does not appear to have been extensive or frequent.

Then, there’s Job. God says there was no one as blameless or upright as him (Job 1:8). If we would expect anybody to be on speaking terms with God, it would have been Job. Satan, with God’s permission, wreaks all kinds of havoc in Jobs life, but, outside of circumstances, there is no direct communication with Job, by God or Satan, until God speaks to him directly at the end of the book.

As his misery intensified, direct communication was the very thing Job wanted. He yearned to plead his case before God — to argue that his suffering was unjust (Job 13:13-19; 23:1-7). When God finally speaks to him (chapters 38-41), Job realizes this wasn’t such a great idea (40:3-5; 42:1-6).

Of course, the message of Job is that our faith is tested and proved by enduring faith in God regardless of the circumstances. Thus, we learn that faith, by it’s very nature, requires less communication than we might like.

Then we have the example of Moses and the Children of Israel. Moses is unique in all of history. No one else was said to have spoken with God “face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11).

But, earlier in the story, after bringing Israel out of Egypt, God had met with Israel at Sinai, speaking to them directly (Exodus 20:1-21). Not a pleasant experience. The Israelites were terrified, in fear for their lives. They never wanted to go through anything like that again. “You go meet with God; tell us what He has to say. We’ll take your word for it.”

Like Job, their experience gave them a new perspective on this direct communication with God thing. And so, Moses becomes the conduit for God’s communication.

With Moses, a new type of character enters the story. Throughout the rest of the Old Testament, God’s communication with man is often mediated through a prophet — someone who delivers a specific message given them by God. The message may come as a word from God (e.g., 1 Samuel 3:10-14) or in the form of a vision (e.g., 1 Kings 22:19-23). These messages seem to have been situationally driven. Either God would prompt the prophet to speak on His behalf,  (e.g., 2 Samuel 7:4-7), or some situation would prompt the prophet to seek His guidance (e.g., 2 Kings 22:13).

Yet, even these prophets, who seemed to have a direct line to God, sometimes seemed at a loss to know what to do. Elijah, who, as God’s representative, called down fire from heaven and ordered the execution of 450 prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18), is so terrified by the Queen’s threats against him that he flees, and even asks God to take his life (1 Kings 19:4). It would be over forty days (19:4, 8) before God would quietly meet with him in Horeb and tell him what he should do next (19:9-18). The interim was a time of deep despair.

Besides prophets, God also communicated through other means throughout the Old Testament, although on a seemingly less frequent basis.

On occasion, He sent angels delivered His message (Lot – Genesis 19; Daniel – Daniel 10). We should note in Daniel’s experience that such communication is fiercely opposed and hindered by demonic forces.

At other times, God appeared directly to men in dreams (e.g., Solomon – 1 Kings 3:1-15), even unbelieving men like King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2, 4), although Nebuchadnezzar needed to have Daniel, a prophet, give the interpretation of his dream.

While there is much more that we could write about God’s communication with individuals in the Old Testament, there are a few firm observations that we can make about that communication:

  • God did communicate directly and explicitly with individuals in the Old Testament.
  • Sometimes the message was given directly to the person for whom it was intended; other times, it was mediated through an angel, or through a prophet.
  • In almost every case, the communication was not an unbroken dialogue, but was limited, both in scope and frequency. This required individuals to walk in faith, trusting God’s goodness and taking His promises at face value, although they might not fully understand them.

In my mind, this raises a few of questions.

On the one hand, is it reasonable to view the Old Testament as a collection of exceptions? Sure, God spoke to Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham and David, but we should not expect to hear from Him. Is that how I am to understand the Old Testament?

On the other hand, with Moses, there seems to be a shift in the way God communicates. For the rest of the Old Testament, His message is almost never given directly to the person for whom it is intended, but is most often mediated through a prophet. Does this continue into the New Testament?

And perhaps, most importantly, how does the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, found in the New Testament, impact God’s communication with us?

We will look at all of these things as we move forward.