Satan asked the question of Eve to plant a seed of doubt in her mind. But seems to me that the same question, “Has God said?” can be asked to clarify our faith.
What if, hypothetically, I were to say to you, “My car has some brake issues that my mechanic says are very dangerous. But I don’t have the money to get new brakes, and I need the car to get to work. But I guess it’s OK. God has given me assurance that ‘every promise in the book is mine.’ I couldn’t sleep last night until I found something in Psalm 91 that jumped out at me. God gave me the words, ‘Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you’ (Psalm 91:9-10). So I’m going to trust God for the brakes until I can come up with the money”’.
In response someone says to me, “Hey, there’s something that doesn’t sound right about that. Has God really said that you won’t have an accident that could hurt someone else or your self, because you’re putting your trust in God?”
Has God said? Another way of saying that is, “Do the Scriptures really mean that?” Are we sure?
Seems to me that anyone with a high view of the Word of God would want to be extremely careful about saying, “God said…”
Isn’t it far safer to “keep our thoughts to ourselves when we are not sure whether the impression that we want to believe is really from the Lord?” Even if it turns out that the thought was from the Lord, is it right to talk about it as if it is equal to the inspired Scriptures?
Is there any reason why we can’t ask God to help us to learn from every promise in the Book… to remind ourselves what God can do… but not necessarily assuming that it is what he is going to do in our circumstances.
Isn’t it better to ask questions like who did God make this said to, when, where, why? Did the assurance you have when you read this mean that God was really giving you the assurance that you could drive on bad brakes without putting yourself and others at risk of something tragic?
Couldn’t the conversation move ahead on safer ground even if I said something like, I was reading Psalm last night and “It seemed to me that God was saying to me…” Or “I had a strong impression that reminded me of another Scripture that says….” At least then we could talk about the difference between knowledge of what God can do, the principles of wisdom, and what God has actually said.
Has God said? So much is in the motive. Those words can be said carelessly, intentionally to deceive, or carefully and purposefully to make sure that we are not putting words in God’s mouth that he would never say.
More than a few have made ruin of their faith not only by listening to a “has God said?” from the devil…but by not listening to a “has God said?” from a friend.
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