“And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him…” (Genesis 13:14)
It is an age-old question: Why does God seem to speak to some people, but not to others? Why is it that there are times when we can clearly hear the voice of the Lord speaking to us, and at other times it seems that He remains silent for long periods of time? There are many answers to these questions, more than a few of them are entirely beyond what the Lord has chosen to reveal to us. But as we examine the lives of some of the people we meet in the Bible, we can begin to understand at least one reason why this happens.
In Genesis 13:14, the Lord speaks again to Abraham. This is the first instance that we read of God speaking to Abraham since before his journey into Egypt and back, when he first came to Shechem (Genesis 12:6). We have no record of God appearing to or speaking to Abraham from the time that he first entered into Canaan until now. Why was God silent to him during this time?
First of all, as we saw before, Abraham was out of the will of God during his sojourn in Egypt. We simply cannot have fellowship with the Lord when we are out of His will. We still belong to God, but we cannot enjoy fellowship with Him when we are living outside of His will. Second, the phrase, “After that Lot was separated from him” is very significant. God never instructed Abraham to bring Lot along with him in the first place, but told him to get away from his kindred (Genesis 12:1). It is true that the last time God spoke to him at Shechem, Lot was with him; but now the Lord waits until Abraham fulfills every aspect of His commands before He appears to him again. The first time God told him what He intended to do for Abraham, now He is ready to bring it to pass. Before that could happen, Abraham had to respond to what God had instructed him earlier.
Until we obey what God has already told us to do, we will not likely hear anything else from Him. Until we respond to the last thing that He has said to us, we will not likely hear Him speak to us again. If you have failed to hear the voice of God for a long period of time, ask yourself: did you listen to what He said to you last time He spoke? If not, then He might be waiting for you to respond to that before He tells you anything else. Just as God waited for Abraham to separate himself from Lot before He revealed anything else about Himself to him, He waits for us to obey His previous Words to us before He tells us anything new. Until we do that, then the Lord will remain silent to us.
For those who have yet to put their faith in Jesus Christ, there is but one Message that God has for you:
“He that believeth on [Me] is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18)
Until you respond to that, God has nothing else to say to you. Our access to God, to either speak to Him or hear from Him, is shut up at the Cross of Jesus Christ. There is no other Door through which we may come unto God and there is no other Word that He has for us until we respond to that.
To Jesus Christ goes all glory. In service to Him,
Loren
[This post was originally published December 3, 2009]
**All Scripture quotations in this post are taken from the King James Version (KJV) Bible
[If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ or you are not certain where you are headed when this life ends, I invite you to read the article “Am I Going To Heaven?“]
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