God Talk: Cautions for Those Who Hear God's Voice

by Ruth A. Tucker

Does God speak? The answer seems clear. Books abound on the topic of hearing God's voice. And many believers testify to God's conversational guidance in their "God told me to help you." "I knew it was God speaking to me." Our culture reinforces the idea that speaking--constant speaking--is good and natural and essential. In those rare moments during a day when talking ceases or when we're alone, we quickly find some way to fill the void, whether turning on the television or radio, or calling someone on the phone. With others, and especially with God, we get the speaking is good, silence is bad. But still, Ruth Tucker is not afraid to ask the question, "Does God speak?" And her answer might surprise you. She urges caution in speaking about hearing God, pointing out that our privatized spirituality often sets those who hear God on a pedestal and leaves those who don't feeling spiritually inferior. Further, she shows how the expectation of conversation may too easily humanize God in our minds, causing us to approach God with the same attitude we have when we call a friend on the phone. And if God does speak, how can we be sure our own desires are not affecting our interpretation of God's voice? In God Talk Tucker offers us a new paradigm for viewing silence and prayer. Rather than feeling inferior when we don't hear God speak, she helps us lean more deeply on his silent, Spirit-inspired Word. By examining the Trinity, Tucker gives us a new glimpse of how God the Father spoke his words in the past, how Christ the Incarnate Word lived among us, and how the Holy Spirit speaks to us now through Scripture. Here is a probing, thought-provoking read on how our present, active, powerful God relates to us and how we, in turn, should relate to God.

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 5, 2005

About the author

Ruth A. Tucker (PhD, Northern Illinois University) has taught mission studies and church history at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Calvin Theological Seminary. She is the author of dozens of articles and eighteen books, including the award-winning From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya. Visit her website at www.RuthTucker.com.

Reviews

[Maxine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple quotes that I found worthy as I read this book. The first one is those cell phones we see everywhere, writes Louis Rene Beres in a June 2005 editorial in the Chicago Tribune, are no more or less than a desperate attempt to keep from being alone with ourselves in a vast uncaring universe.

Another quote is most people regard God silence as though it were the silent treatment. It is not. It is surely no passive aggressive behavior. God silence is neither good nor bad. Silence is an attribute not an attitude of God.