He Still Speaks

Savannah Sibert

• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781685262204
• eBook ISBN: 9781685262211
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

The world we live in today is driven by communication. It's never been so easy to hear from family and friends. Media sources can be accessed almost immediately. We read, hear, and consume more information than generations before us would've ever thought possible. We can hear any voice we desire to hear instantly.

Why is there such a struggle to hear from God? Does the God who created the universe still speak to us today? And if so, why can't we hear what He's saying?

He still speaks, and He's provided everything we need to learn to hear Him.

Chapter 5

Removing the Idols

God chose the children of Israel to be His people. He rescued them from slavery in Egypt and promised them a land of their own. They witnessed Him split a sea in half and then walked through that sea on dry ground. They were sustained by bread He provided from heaven. They were led through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud He placed for them in the daytime and a pillar of fire at night. They saw fire and smoke engulf a mountain as God spoke His law to their leader, Moses.

The things they saw and experienced were nothing short of wondrous. They had more reasons to be devoted to God than probably any other group of people that has ever walked the earth. They had no need for anyone or anything else because God had provided every single thing they needed. In addition to that, He made a covenant with them and promised to be with them.

The God of the universe dwelled in a tent in the wilderness to be near His chosen, tent-dwelling people. Even with all these incredible encounters, the Israelites struggled greatly with idolatry. God would do a mighty work, and they would fall on their faces in adoration and worship and then soon after be found making a golden calf and treating it as a god. Psalm 106:20 says, “They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass.” Doesn’t that sound ridiculous? It seems crazy to think they could abandon God so quickly and easily after experiencing Him and His power in such undeniable ways.

We are worshippers at the very center of our being. We were created for worship. Because we’ve been given free will, we get to choose what has our devotion. In Acts 17, Paul is in Athens and he sees that the whole city is full of idols and idol worship. Paul speaks boldly about Jesus and shares the gospel with the people there in the city. They are so intrigued because this was a new teaching to them. Verse 21 tells us that they were constantly searching for new things to spend their time on.

Paul makes a public speech and opens with this: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’” They were so desperate for something new to worship they were creating altars for gods they didn’t even have a name for. Their hearts craved something bigger and mightier than themselves, even if they had to create it with human hands.

To understand this fully, we need to look at what worship really is. In the “church crowd,” it’s very easy to see worship as the three songs we sing before the pastor preaches or, if we get crazy, a night of worship with ten songs, a live band, low lighting, and hands raised. Those things can absolutely be used in worship. There are descriptions in the Bible of music, dancing, shouting, singing, and bowing as acts of worship. In fact, the description of the throne room of heaven in Revelation 4 shows most of these acts of worship.

The thing about worship is that it isn’t a list of actions that you do. Worship is an attitude of the heart. What has your awe? What consumes your thoughts? What is your reason for doing the things you do? In its simplest form, worship is adoration. It’s devotion that doesn’t waver even in the midst of distractions. True worship is costly. True worship will require a sacrifice. It causes you to abandon everything else for the one thing that consumes you. When we are fixed on something, everything we do flows from that.

As followers of Jesus, He has to be the One thing for us. God is merciful and full of love and grace, but He is also a jealous God. The law that God gave to Moses on the mountain was a list of commandments, the Ten Commandments. The very first commandment on the list deals with idols and worship. He addressed devotion before any other topic. Choosing Him means to be truly devoted to Him and Him alone.

We are in a much-different time now than the Israelites or the people Paul spoke to in Athens were. I don’t think there are many people I know who fight the urge to make a golden cow and bow to it, but that doesn’t mean we are a people who have finally beaten idolatry. We’ve gotten much more creative with our choice of idols as time has progressed. An idol is anything that we value over God. Today they look like cell phones, televisions, sports, wealth, debt, social media, food—I could list things for the next ten pages.

Sadly, we could place our children, spouse, or even our church in that category as well. If there were a verse in Psalms about our idolatry today, it would say that we exchanged the glory of God for a television or a bank account that one day will be destroyed, just like the rest of our worldly possessions. That still sounds pretty crazy to me. None of those things are evil. None of those things are wrong. However, even good things can be detrimental if we place them above God.

Jesus addressed this with the disciples in Luke 14. He tells them that if they don’t hate their families and their own lives, they can’t be His disciples. That’s incredibly hard teaching. Does that mean we are supposed to despise our children or abandon our parents? Absolutely not. Jesus is saying that we should love Him with a love that is so deep and devoted it makes all other love look like hate in comparison. In the Ten Commandments, God tells the Israelites to honor their parents. You can’t honor someone you actually hate. When we love Him the way we are called, we learn to love like Him. That means that loving Him actually teaches us how to love the people around us better than we could in our own power. You may be catching a trend here, but that comes from the power of the Holy Spirit and being planted in the Word.

God doesn’t want you to cut off all ties and live in the woods completely secluded, avoiding any and all human interaction with a Bible stuck to your face. I’m not telling you to get rid of all technology and take your kids out of sports. What I am encouraging you to do is take an inventory of your heart. Where does your allegiance lie? What are the things that are stopping you from spending time with God? The hard truth is these things we hold so dear on earth are fleeting and temporary.

The only things that matter are the ones that hold weight in eternity. The only thing that will stand is truly knowing and following Jesus. Jesus paid a huge price to be close to you. He gave His life to pay the debt you owed. He was beaten, mocked, and then crucified because our sin required the blood of a perfect sacrifice to be cleansed. His love for you and desire to be close to you was greater than any suffering He endured. He sacrificed more than we will ever be asked to.

Love is sacrifice. A love like that is worth me giving up an earthly comfort a million times. We don’t give up things out of obligation because we owe Him; we give up things because nothing compares to Him and He has made Himself available.

One thing that amazes me about the human race is our ability to take a talented or charismatic person and elevate them to a place of royalty. It’s the reason people stand in line in the rain for hours for a concert and why they pay any amount asked for five minutes and a picture with an actor from their favorite television show. It’s why people research and learn every fact about a band’s history and memorize every lyric to every song they produce. In recent years, I’ve even seen this happen with prominent pastors and worship leaders. It only takes a scroll through the comment section on a popular worship leader’s social media post to see that there are people who worship the leader instead of the God they proclaim. We are desperate to dress like them, sing like them, promote the same causes they do, and disapprove of the same things they do. We are very capable of devotion. If given the chance for unlimited alone time with a favorite celebrity, I don’t think there’s a limit to what some people would give up or do.

All this for a human who was created just like us. I often wonder what the response would be if Jesus were to step into our world in the flesh again today. I think millions would sell their homes, go into debt, and lose jobs, whatever it took to get to where He was physically in hopes of being forgiven or healed. Those same people have dusty Bibles in their homes that haven’t been cracked open in years. We have unlimited access to the God who created every one of us. Hebrews 4:16 invites us to boldly come near the throne of grace. Because of Jesus, we aren’t trespassing in the throne room of the King of kings; we are invited guests. Yet we can’t put our phones down long enough to accept the invitation.

He’s worth whatever He leads you to give up. I’m more confident of that than anything else I’ve ever known. In John 6, Jesus had just watched many of His disciples abandon Him. He asked the ones left if they wanted to leave too. Peter responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Peter got it. Nothing else compares to Jesus. He gave us the words of eternal life. Where else could we go? What else is more worthy of our attention than the Word of God?

James 1:21 says, “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” Ponder these words for a few minutes. Let the Word of God do what it does best and remind you of the goodness of God, then ask the Lord to reveal the things you need to exchange for more of Him.

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord ever before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in y...

Table of contents

• His Voice Is Recognizable
• The Word Is Alive
• The Best Teacher
• The Word Is a Weapon
• Removing the Idols
• Hearing Calls for Moving
• Pay Attention
• Repentance Births Revival
• Christ Has Set You Free
• Perfect Peace
• Dig In