God is a speaking God, as Tozer says. He has spoken, and the written Word is a record of His voice. But before the Word was written, He spoke, and since the Word has been written, He continues to speak. In fact, His Spirit enlivens the written Word, speaking it to our hearts. Without this active communication, we would not be able to understand a single written word.
The great leader of Israel, Nehemiah, was a man of unceasing prayer. Every moment in the history of his life was laced with intercession. On eight occasions in the short book of his life, we find him praying. This unceasing openness to God made him a man who was in a posture to hear.
And so we read this bit of travelogue as he is leading God’s people:
Then, my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials, and the people to be enrolled by genealogies. (Nehemiah 7:5)
“Then my God put it into my heart” is a glorious and telling phrase. It means that God communicates with the listening servant. If God is God, He can certainly do so—to impress in such ways, by His Word and Spirit, that His children know His will. That they have a clear understanding of what to do. God has everything to gain through this active voice to the hearts of a willing child.
Don’t expect to hear God like this, however, if you are not predisposed to listen. Nehemiah’s heart was tuned to heaven. He knew he could not lead without God. He did not lean on his own understanding but in all his ways acknowledged God, as Proverbs says, and the Lord directed his path. His heart had learned, through daily routine, the art of discerning God’s voice from the distracting sounds around him.
How does a seeking, listening man know what to do? God puts it into His heart for the man’s good, the good of those he leads, and for the glory of God. And as this Divine leadership accomplishes Divine purposes, a humble man knows the joy of communing with his Speaking God.
