Do you ever feel you are not good enough to Hear God’s voice? Do you ever think, "I’m not smart enough. Other people understand everything - especially the Bible - much better than I do!” Then I have good news for you! God gives wisdom to those who are simple, and uses the foolishness of the world to shame the wise. So be glad that you are simple and foolish! If you feel like a dummy sometimes, this article is for you!

What God’s Word can do for you

I regularly encounter people who feel this way. Especially when it comes to hearing God’s voice. Especially hearing Him speak through the Bible. The Bible often remains a closed book to them. They don’t get much out of it. How unfortunate! When we look at the Bible, we discover that it can change your life completely! Let’s read a passage about that together.

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

(Psalm 19:7-11)

Who wouldn’t want this? That you become whole within (that your soul is converted)? That you receive wisdom and deep joy? That you will see how things work and be warned of danger in time? All this can be yours. How? By letting God speak to you through His Word: the Bible.

Not with your head, but with your heart

“Okay, I get it. There’s just a little problem: I find it quite difficult to read the Bible. Can you give me some good tips?” Yes and no. Yes, I can definitely give you a tip. No, understanding the Bible is not done with a few good tips. When we try to help each other make the Bible speak to us, everybody has a piece of advice. “Try a Bible reading schedule in the Bible app. Big advantage: if you get behind, just move the dates around!” Or this one: “If you read this book, you’ll really understand how to put the book of John together.” To take a creative track: “I always make a mind map and a drawing when I read the Bible.”

Does this sound familiar? It does to me, and I’ve tried all kinds of methods, too. Good methods, often with good results. The only problem is that they don’t get to the heart of the matter. They are just human solutions to help your head understand the Bible. And with that, we are missing the point! After all, the Bible was not written for your head. So trying to understand the Bible better by giving your mind a hand is not the solution. Does it help? To an extent, yes. But the real key lies elsewhere: with your heart.

So when the disciples asked Jesus why some people understood His parables and some didn’t, Jesus started talking about the heart. What He said can also help you and me today in our search.

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. (…) For this people”s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

(Matthew 13:11-15)

In other words, the problem of those who do not understand the Word is a heart problem - not a mind problem. It is not your IQ that is decisive, but the condition of your heart that determines whether or not you understand God’s Word. I am not talking about the ability to read it, but about being changed on the inside by the word of God. That is understanding with your heart. Then you will begin to experience the blessings we read about in Psalm 19.

Respect for God

“So if I understand correctly, my mind is not the problem, but my heart. Good to know. Only, how do I change my heart to where I can understand the Word with it? Good for you to ask! I believe you have already read the key just now. It’s hidden in Psalm 19. Where? Well, among all those statements about what the Word can do for you, there is a sentence that is about something else: the first part of verse 10. There it says, “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever.”

“Nice find, Stein! But why do you think awe of God is the key?” For that, I”d like to take you to Psalm 25, a few pages down in your Bible. There we read:

The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant. (Psalm 25:14).

So God makes His covenant known to those who respect Him (that’s what "the fear of the LORD" means). But what does this have to do with what we are talking about? What does this verse mean for: understanding the Bible with your heart? Well, everything!

Question for you: what does the Bible consist of? Exactly, of two parts. The Old Testament and the New Testament. Just thinking through now... What is another word for Testament? Right! Covenant. And let that be exactly what God makes known to those who fear Him! If you respect God, He will make His Word - that is, the Bible - known to you.

How it works

Revealing, making known, that is what God does for people who respect Him. But what exactly does that mean? And how do you apply it? I think it helps to look a little more closely at the word fear. If I fear someone, or respect someone, I am mindful of that person. Moreover, if I respect him, I will value what he says. That is how it works with God. If you respect God, you will value what He says.

Again, we read this earlier when we looked at the words of Jesus. For one of the phrases from that section was, For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath (Matthew 13:12). In other words, whoever values what he has will receive more. Those who are careless with the words of God will lose them. You can see the same thing in the parable Jesus told in the context of this section. The point He is making is that different people deal differently with what God says to them. That determines how much they get out of it, and whether it has an effect in their lives.

The more you appreciate what God has to say, the more you will hear. The more you respect Him, the more He will make known to you. And the beautiful thing is this: this will reinforce each other. The more you hear from God, the more your respect for Him will increase. And that, in turn, will cause you to hear more from God. Thus, this reinforces itself more and more.

Get started

You can start doing this today. Start thanking God for what you have already learned from the Bible. Go back to passages that spoke to you and touched your heart. Reflect on them, thanking God for them. Then your heart will become soft to His voice and you will hear Him more a more!