Introduction
There is not one person this author knows
who would not like to hear from God. Well, author Dallas Willard has written a book
in an effort to help people recognize when God is speaking. Willard is a famous
author known for his work Spiritual
Disciplines, while also being a professor at the University of Southern
California’s school of philosophy. So
how well are you hearing from God? There is much in this book to take to heart
while there are also things to be taken with a grain of salt. Throughout this work
there will be a concise summary of the work, while looking at it with a
critical eye, then this author will attempt to apply how this work can affect
his life.
Summary
This work is not one that is very
large from beginning to end; it is 223 pages long consisting of nine chapters,
preface, and epilogue. Chapter one is
called a paradox about hearing God; in this chapter Willard summarizes the
dilemma that some believers feel that they cannot hear from God. He states that, “I was sure that he spoke individually
and specifically about what he wanted each believer to do and that he also
taught and made real on an individual basis the general truths all must believe
in order to enter into life with him.”[1]
Willard understands that for the average Christian, hearing from God is a
rather awe inspiring and yet confusing thing. He solidifies that point when he
says, “Even those who firmly believe that they have been addressed or directly
spoken to by God may be at a loss to know what is happening or what to do about
it.”[2]
In
chapter two, he establishes the guidelines for hearing from God. He makes sure
to emphasize that there is no magic formula or incantation a person can use to
have God speak to them and to grow them to the place God actually speaks and we
are able to comprehend. Willard believes emphatically that, “We must therefore
make it our primary goal not just to hear the voice of God but to mature people
in a loving relationship with him.”[3]
Chapter
three lays a foundation about how we are never alone because we have an
omnipresent God. In this chapter, he gives a list of three ways or aspects of
sensing God’s presence with us. We may
not always know God is near, but we rely on blind faith or abstract reasoning
to move closer to him; another aspect is knowing or sensing a strong impression
of God’s presence. Last but not least, we know when he is near because he acts
in conjunction with our actions or changes things we are powerless to change. [4]
Now
in chapter four, he gives us an understanding of how most things have some form
of communication and that God speaks to us as his creation. Chapter five is by
far one of the best chapters in this work; it is titled the small still voice
and its rivals. There are some who would say God has quit speaking individually
to people apart from his revelation made through the Bible. “But those who seek
to live a life within God’s will can be confused about the significance of the
various ways God speaks with us.”[5]
In this chapter he refers to the story of young Samuel and Eli in 1 Samuel 3,
and how God will speak to us and we have to be quiet and submit ourselves to
hearing him speak to us. Along with the still small voice, he lists examples of
when angels are used to speak to numerous people in the Bible along with using
dreams and visions.
Chapters
six through nine round out the book in giving more detail in how we are to be
listening out for the voice of God; how we will recognize it and how redemption
comes through the word of God. In the chapter on redemption through the word of
God he does not merely limit it to the Bible, but also Jesus Christ revelation,
and what the Spirit speaks to us.
Critique
While
this is a well-written book, it left me longing for something more. The whole
time I was reading this book, I continued to have the nagging feeling that
something was missing. In this work,
chapters five and eight seemed to be the most beneficial to this author. Something
so easily over looked and yet profound “is when we seek God earnestly, prepared
to go out of our way to examine anything that might be his overture toward
us—including the most obvious things like the Bible verses or our own thoughts—that
he promises to be found (Jer 29:13).”[6]
Willard makes the statement “that God’s
speaking in union with the human voice and human language is the primary
objective way in which God addresses us.”[7]
While I am in some agreement with him, I believe that God does speak with us in
languages we can understand I am not sure that it is the primary way. For a fact, this author’s pastors would argue
this point and say that the primary way God speaks to his people is through the
Bible.
He
believes that our thoughts are God’s speaking to us. He backs this up when he
says, “Although reoccurring thought are not always and indication that God is
speaking, they are not to be lightly disregarded.”[8]
There are often times that I believe the Lord has spoken to me through
recurring thoughts, so there is no argument in the fact that God will speak
through our reoccurring thoughts.
As
a member of a PCA church, my pastors hold a very high view of Scripture so much
so that they are cessationist; and they would disagree with Willard when he
says, “But there is nothing in Scripture to indicate that the Biblical modes of
God’s communication with humans have been superseded or abolished by either the
presence of the church or the close of the scriptural canon.”[9]
But from this author’s perspective God is the same yesterday, today and forever
(Heb 13:8). Do you assume that if God speaks to you that you would automatically
know it? Willard tells us, “We may mistakenly think that if God spoke to us we
would automatically know who is speaking without having to learn, but that is
simply a mistake and one of the most harmful mistakes for those trying to hear
God’s voice.”[10]
Application
There
is something that can be taken away from this material that helps to deepen the
relationship one has with God. One of the major take-a-ways from this material
is that God can speak to us through any means in which he chooses. The one mean that stands out is the small
still voice that spoke to Samuel and Elijah. It is this authors hope to reach a
place where he will readily recognize when God is speaking to him. As of right now I am at a place where I
sometimes think I am hearing from God, but I am still unsure. I have heard from
God before when I was a called into ministry, through a dream. Currently there has not been any communication
with God, me to him or vice-versa. I
have since started speaking with him more and am taking the time to listen. Not
only listen for the still calm voice, but other people and situations.
Conclusion
In
conclusion, this work is worth your time if you have read other books on prayer
and have developed a certain prayer style. This book does not offer any solid
instructions on how to definitively guarantee you’ll hear from God in your
prayer life. It does offer help in ways that you can become more open to hear
God and the things that will hinder what is heard. There are two books that could be of great
help, Charles Spurgeon’s The Power of
Prayer in the Believers Life, and Prayer the Timeless Secret of High Impact
Leaders by Dave Earley. 
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