Anointing
and Hearing God's Voice
by Jim Driscoll
Why
is it that God's voice seems easier to hear on certain days than it does on
other days?
One
reason could be that relationship with God is cyclical in the sense that He
will draw near, and He will draw away. There are days when He just draws away.
Most of us go through seasons in which we hear from God a lot and other seasons
of "divine silence," in which it seems like He isn't speaking. This
doesn't happen because of us - because we're failing to do something important
or because we're doing something wrong; it is a natural fluctuation of intimacy
and separation. Leviticus specifies a similar dynamic between husband and wife
that is driven by biological cycle.
If
we are having difficulty hearing God's voice, it could also be an issue of
peace. We have a much harder time communicating with God when we are stressed,
dealing with fear or if He is speaking to us about topics that are hard for us
to believe or accept.
Anointing
However,
if our days and emotions remain basically the same, and one day we're hearing
clearly and the next day we aren't, it most likely has to do with anointing.
The
level of anointing in a person's life tends to oscillate from one day to the
next, from one week to the next. The anointing is what helps our brains
recognize that what we are hearing or seeing is important. It stimulates our
spiritual senses and makes us want to pay attention to God. We feel His
presence, and we get excited. In a way, the anointing provides incentive for
listening and spending time with Him.
When
the anointing is high and God speaks to us, we are much more likely to
recognize, This is God! I need to listen to this. But when the anointing is
low, we may not realize anything happened.
His
whisper is easy to ignore, and it isn't inherently going to demand our
attention. God says many things in moments of low anointing to see if we're
going to notice Him even when our minds don't immediately register that
something important is happening. On days of low anointing, hearing from God
takes more work. He may be saying the same number of things He said the day
before, but we will often wonder if He is speaking at all because the whisper
can be so hard to discern.
This
is why it is good for us to desire to hear Him more than we desire to be
anointed, more than we desire to see results and more than we desire to feel
comfortable or like we know what we're doing. If we pay attention to everything
we think might be from Him, even if we are uncertain in the moment, it will be
much harder for us to miss His voice, no matter our current level of anointing
or how quietly He is speaking.
Jim Driscoll