When God speaks, we need to choose to listen to His voice and choose to obey Him. God does not force anything on you, but His leadership is perfect and His motive behind instruction is always for your good (Jeremiah 29:11). That is why throughout the Bible we see God asking and instructing the people of God to listen to His voice, to obey Him when He speaks, because He has our best intention at heart. His advice and command are there to help you, protect you, and lead you into His perfect will and plan for your life.
In John 14:15 it says “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Here we see that our love for God will always ensure that we keep His commandments and obey Him. You can’t say that you love God, yet when He speaks, you doubt His words and choose to be disobedient. We have to come to the realisation that God wants the best for us and therefore loving Him and obeying Him should be easy because He loved us first (1 John 4:19 – “We love because he first loved us.”)
As we read about the Apostle Paul, His initial encounter with Jesus radically transformed Him, yet he was obedient to the voice of God and did everything according to what he had been told to do. Acts 9:3-6 “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Firstly, Jesus will meet you where you are at in life. In the beginning of the chapter we read “Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples (Acts 9:1). Saul was filled with anger towards believers and wanted to arrest and kill them, yet Jesus had a divine set up and encounter waiting for him along his path. No matter what you are facing right now, Jesus has a divine encounter waiting for you. He will meet you on your journey and you will suddenly experience the light and love of Jesus.
Saul listened to what Jesus had to say. Right in the middle of a powerful encounter with God, Saul hearkened unto the voice of God and listened. He was able to recognize who he was speaking with and paid attention to the voice in the encounter. We must become aware of the times when God is speaking to us and listen to His voice. So many times God is telling us clearly what to do or where to go, but we miss it because we do not obey. We see in verse 8 how Saul took what he heard and immediately obeyed the instruction he was given by Jesus – “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:5). When God spoke to Saul, He only gave him one instruction – “Get up and go!” Sometimes the voice of God comes with instruction but we expect God to give us a full blueprint of a step by step process before we obey in faith. God sometimes speaks and wants us to step out in faith and obedience to that one instruction. Maybe God has already spoken to you to do something specific, yet you have been waiting on God to tell you more, but He is waiting for you to obey. Choose to listen to His voice when He speaks, and choose to obey Him even when you don’t have it all figured out! God knows best and if you will just trust Him, He will work all things together for your good (Romans 8:28.)
Saul’s obedience to the voice of God led him to the place where God was able to radically transform his life and use him “to proclaim God’s name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel” (Acts 9:15). It was once Saul obeyed God, that God was able to position Saul to be filled with the Holy Spirit, baptized, healed, and step into his calling as the Apostle Paul.
I encourage you today with this, God is speaking to you right now. You are His sheep and you hear His voice. I pray that as God speaks to you, you will recognize His voice, trust His leadership in your life and obey Him wholeheartedly. I pray that you will always choose to obey His commands and instructions knowing that His intentions for your life are good.
When you step out in faith and obedience to God, you will see the hand of God moving in your life like never before. Put your trust and confidence in God and watch Him work all things together for your good!