Do you remember the commercial tag line, "When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen."? Everyone stops what they are doing and lean in to listen. You can hear a pin drop from the silence. Check it out in this video.
Well, when God talks, people take action. As we look at some of the times that God spoke to man we will look at the actions that the person took. Since we are studying Job we will start with him. God appeared to Job in a whirlwind, EF-God, since it didn't destroy anything nor did it move about, Job didn't have to run chasing it to listen to God. Job had been sitting in sackcloth and ashes for days and God told him to get dressed and be prepared as a man. In other words gird up your loins and be prepared to work, fight, or move fast. We know Job did so because God wasn't going to start questioning him till he did so. It is as if he was before the Judge in ripped jeans and a raggedly old t-shirt and the Judge told him to go home and come back with appropriate attire on.
Moses when he stood before God at the burning bush was told to remove his shoes by God, because the ground was holy. Moses did then he argued with God as to why he shouldn't be the one to go to Egypt to free the Hebrew slaves. Moses gave every excuse out there that he could come up with and God shot them all down. Finally after realizing that there was no excuse that God can't take care of, Moses did as God asked and went back to Egypt.
Elijah was hiding in a cave for his life. Hiding for the wicked king and queen who had killed the other prophets of God. God called him out of the cave and Elijah went. Then God spoke to him with a still small voice as to what he was to do next for God. No longer feeling afraid and alone, Elijah did as God told him.
Saul/Paul on the way to Damascus was surrounded by a light from heaven, in which he fell to the ground. In the light he heard the voice of Jesus and was blinded. The action from this was life changing. Not just the conversion of Saul to Paul but of the millions that have been changed through Paul's writing.
So does God still speak to us today? I will answer yes. Not only does He speak to us through reading the Bible, our pastors, blogs, friends, family; God still speaks to us directly. A few years ago my husband and I knew that the church we were going to was not a good match for us but we just didn't know where to go so we were sticking it out. A good friend finally told us that we needed to move. So the next day after watching the women's Bible study in Phoenix, AZ online while still sitting at the computer, out of shear and utter helplessness I asked God where do we go? Ever since we moved to TX it had been hard to find a church. Then I heard a voice over my right shoulder tell me to look up someone that we knew because he was going to a church that is right on. So I looked him up on Facebook and because I was not his friend I could only see two things on his page, one happened to be on a church page. I checked the page out and the went to the website and listened to the pastor for several messages online. We went on Sunday and am happy to say all of us are involved and growing at this church. Not did God speak through a friend but He spoke audibly to me and we took the action He requested.
What action has He told you to take? Did you do what He asked you to do?