How will God speak to me? (Part 4 of 5)

The third of the three channels highlighted in our primary text is knowledge: “any that knoweth.”  So, not only by signs or by prophets, but also by the one that “knoweth,” we can hear God and be saved.  The knower could be ourselves or another.  In other words, this knowledge that saves could come from a third party or it could be knowledge acquired by ourselves for ourselves. On facial value, it might not look as ‘spiritual’ as what comes from the Prophet, or the signs of God that we interpret to decode a divine message, yet it saves no less.

Once upon a time when crisis struck the kingdom of Babylon, the king called out for “the wise men, which knew the times” (Esther 1:13).  Whereas prophets found truth through their spirits, those “wise men” found truth through their understanding, their wisdom, their heads.  Whereas prophets were inspired to know, those were skilled to know.

The word translated “wise men” in that passage is the Aramaic chakam, which means intelligent, skillful, being wise-hearted.  They “knew the times” by skill, by experience, by wisdom, by investigation.

The word “knew” in that passage is translated from yada in the same ancient language, meaning to know, to ascertain by seeing, by observation, care, and instruction. It means to be aware, to comprehend, to be learned, skillful, understand.  All of that suggests natural awareness.  That means that there are times knowable through investigation or information, just as other times are knowable through inquiry and revelation, as when the disciples sought from Jesus to know through enquiry the times that they were sure that He already knew by revelation (Acts 1:6-7).

Prophets might know the times by revelation, others might know some times by a careful study of signs.  For example, there are those who know, by the global signs they see, that we are in the last days.  There are others who, through a spectacular spiritual encounter, have got the same knowledge.  When Herod was doing his mischievous research about the coming of the Messiah, he tried all those options (Matthew 2:3-8). Providence assays to keep everyone informed in one way or the other (Psalm 19:1-4).

When Psalm 74:9 says, “neither is there among us any that knoweth how long,” it suggests that God sends or sets “among us” not only signs and seeing prophets but also people of knowledge.  Unfortunately, given our religious orientations, we often celebrate the prophets that God sends to us, but not so the wise men and those that know (Matthew 23:34).  The same God that “changeth the times and the seasons” that prophets tell, also gives “wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know” – and they tell, too, to those who hear them (Daniel 2:21). He ordains no less with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge (Exodus 31:3).  We celebrate Solomon for his wisdom, but that was only the first of two things he asked from God: “wisdom and knowledge” (2 Chronicles 1:10).  Some see; some know.  Some know through seeing; others know through knowing.

It was neither a ‘revelation’ nor the usual encounter with an angel but community news that made Joseph to turn “aside” into Nazareth.  It was to be said almost thereafter that his action, even though it had been ‘inspired’ by natural event, had been a fulfilment of prophecy: “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2:22-23).  In other words, the news that detoured the steps of Joseph, in his safety considerations for his young family, was prophetic.   Ever heard of prophetic news?  Can something be prophetic when it did not come from the mouth of a prophet?  The case of Joseph was not the only of such instances.  Read the next:

Well, God not only guides but wars with information, as you will find in 2 Kings 19:7 and Judges 7:11-15.  The Bible speaks in many places of wisdom and strength, as if to say that wisdom grants strength (Job 12:13).  None should be so intellectual as to deny the divine and spiritual leadership; we should neither be so ‘spiritual’ as to be stupid. That something can be counterfeited does not mean that it has no original; that it has been abused by someone does not deny its proper use.  Discernment is the key. Naomi and family uncritically followed the news about abundant bread and moved into Moab, to their unforgettable regret. It was news again that later restored her back to the land they had fled (Ruth 1:1-6).  Isaac was going to follow the news into Egypt but God stopped him (Genesis 26:1-5).  Yet Jacob followed the news that started the process that found his household in Egypt, building the nation of Israel.

Jesus heard some news and moved out of the same Nazareth that He had been fulfilling prophecy when He moved there.  His movement out had been as prophetic as His movement in.  The summary is this: “Take heed therefore how ye hear” (Luke 8:18), not only what you hear (Mark 4:24).

Daniel the Reader
It was by knowledge acquired from reading that Daniel was able to tell the season that he and his people were in, at one point in their exile in Babylon.  That primary voice came not through a vision or an angel, even though Daniel was a very gifted prophet who often heard God through those extraordinary means.  It came from information received, processed, discerned, applied.  It came from the book of a prophet read and understood.  If Daniel were some of us who are so anointed that they hear no other but themselves, I wonder how much longer his people might have overstayed in exile.

The information that Daniel got “by books” was so prophetically significant that it prompted a prayer that shook the heavens, threatened the second heavens, and activated the Prince of Persia and Angels Mchael and Gabirel.  That info began the mobilizations that started the process of return from captivity (Daniel 9:2-3).  Had Daniel trusted only dreams and visions…  Thank God, Daniel was also particular about what books he read: Jeremiah, an ancestral prophet; a person of like disposition as he. Not gossips and pornographies.

God laments in Hosea 4:6 that His people perish “for lack of knowledge” – not, in that case, for lack of a prophet or from the evil activities of witchcraft.  So, knowledge can deliver, just as prophets might guide, and signs might tell.