The Voice of God Recalibrates the Soul
What kind of world do we live in? It is certainly faster-paced and more complex than in any time of history. There is a cacophony of voices in the atmosphere. There is great competition for the information space of our inner world. My seminary professor would ask a rhetorical question in class, “Does a fish know it’s wet?” The real answer is, “no.” Do we know the wetness of our current world? Here are four of the salient features of the water we are swimming.
Psychological. We are living in a psychologized world. This forces us to constantly think, “Am I feeling well?” Christian author, Henri Nouwen, wrote that over 30 years ago. Today, we are swimming in a hyper-psychologized world. Pastoral leadership with the focus on the altar, care, and counseling was a mainstay for Americans to help solve challenges of life. Today, therapy is displacing theology. Morals are exchanged for feelings. What is most important to the average American is how one feels about their life. As a therapist, I value psychology. But, as a theologian, there is no ultimate substitute for the Gospel. It is the truth that still sets us free (John 8:32).
Forensic. We live in a hyper-legal world. This forces us to constantly think, “Am I justified?” In my part of Pennsylvania there are cameras everywhere. They line the highways and are present at almost every intersection. Cameras are in our hands. So, they are on airplanes and automobiles. It’s more difficult to be a criminal today because someone is capturing their trespass on the front porch or thirty-thousand feet in the sky. I think it’s safe to assume that it’s nearly impossible to limit a digital footprint. Someone can always ping us. We can’t ever really “get away.” Spiritually, though, we are forensically made righteous in Christ. We are made righteous by grace. “He who knew no sin became sin so that we become the righteousness of God” (II Cor. 5:21). Christ’s justification inoculates us against the forensic forces in our world.
Digital. We are living well-beyond an Information Age. This forces us to ask the question, “Do I know enough?” I listened to a podcast of a well-known Pastor in Portland, OR. His church comprised of mainly Millennial and Gen Z attendees. He would often use the word, “phone world” in his sermons. Elon Musk, the contemporary innovator of the of Space X rockets and the electric vehicle, has declared that human beings are already Cyborgs. Man has become part machine. Our phone is nearly connected to our body. We fluidly live in between a phone world and a human world. Further, with the dawn of AI, information overload is at new levels. Instead of knowing more information, we need to know the Lord more. “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
Supernatural. All of us sense the impact of psychology, law, and the internet on everyday life. Perhaps we sense this more implicitly. If we’re careful, we can notice the currents that pull or push us toward certain behaviors. However, there is no substitute for a supernatural world view. The above currents are what we experience in the physical. However, as the Image of God, we have a deep need to be engaged with the metaphysical, the supernatural presence of God. Paul’s word to continuously be filled with the Spirit is the anecdote (Eph. 5:18). When we seek His face (II Cor. 3:18), we are transformed into His image; not the image that the world wants to shape us.
So, now what? When Jesus began preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, he would often use the phrase, “Truly, truly, I say unto you!” Theologian, Leonard Sweet, interprets Jesus words as saying, “Wake up!” “Pay attention to what I am saying!” We need to heed these words of Jesus today and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit against the cacophony of voices in the world. I would often tell my Soldiers, we are human beings, not human doings. As God’s image-barer, we need to be supernaturally renewed in the Spirit. We need to recalibrate our soul to the voice of our Great Shepherd, who bids us to walk with him beside still waters of quiet rest and notice him (Psalm 23). As we notice him, we will notice ourselves and the currents that pull and push us away from Him and his mission.
