What if God Says Something I Don’t Like?

I was speaking to a young woman recently about listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Key points:

“I’m too scared, she said, “What if God says something I don’t like?”

I could so relate. I distinctly remember having the same fear myself. What if God called me to move to a country I didn’t want to go to? What if God asked me to marry someone I didn’t like?

In response to the woman, I shared a God conversation I’d recently heard. Adam was leading a weekly bible study with a group of people who struggled with addictions and crime when he set them some homework. “This week, I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Then come back and tell us what God said.”

Like a loving parent, God gives us just what we need and only what we can handle.

A week later, the group gathered with their stories. One couple was particularly enthusiastic. They had gone away and prayed separately, and God had said the same thing to each of them!

Adam was excited. What would it be? He could think of so many things God should say. Clean up their drug addiction, for example. Stop neglecting their children. Cut out the petty crime. Then he asked the couple what God said…

“God told us to go register our car!” they declared with big smiles on their faces.

What? God told you to register your car??

When God speaks, he leads us into a place of wholeness and freedom.

A week later, the couple returned to the group with a deep sense of joy and fulfilment. “We’ve registered our car!” they said. What’s next?!

Can you see what’s happening here? When God speaks, he leads us into a place of wholeness and freedom. Like a loving parent, God gives us just what we need and only what we can handle. Step by step, the Spirit leads us to follow and be changed into the person we’re created to be. It is a custom made journey, designed just for us.

As we listen to God and do what he says, we’ll discover that as Jesus said, when we ask for bread, God won’t give us a stone. When we ask for fish, he won’t give us a snake.

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?” (Jesus, Matthew 7:9-10)

Fear only comes when we haven’t fully comprehended the love of God. It’s here that we need to remember what God is like. Always loving. Always good. The one who died in self-sacrificial love for each one of us. God only ever speaks to lead us into life. As Jesus said, God’s words are full of the Spirit and life.

“The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” (Jesus, John 6:63b)

Jesus also said, God’s words are like bread to our bodies and food to our souls. They are good for us! We can’t live without them.

“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Jesus, Matthew 4:4)

Knowing the character of God as revealed fully in Jesus, can I encourage you to open your heart to what the Spirit is saying?

Allow faith in God’s nature to dispel any fears that come. When God speaks, life is the outcome. When God speaks, there is nothing to fear.

Listen to this episode of Everyday God Conversations in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.

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