As my October break draws closer, I’ve been intrigued by the idea of hearing God’s voice. I didn’t have to look far to find a current book on the subject. Bill Hybels new book, The Power of a Whisper, is about hearing God and responding to His voice. It struck me as something worth reading at this time.
Sadly, it really wasn’t worth reading. I liked the various stories that Hybels tells about when he heard God’s voice, and the variety of stories he shares about people in his church having the same experience. But this book doesn’t really cover new ground. In fact, I might argue that the standards Hybels sets for determining whether you have heard the voice of God are flawed.
For instance, appendix #2 in the book is titled, “Is this whisper really from God?” He then has five filters to use for determining the answer. Among the filters is “is it wise?” and “is it in tune with your own character?” Scripturally, I find lots of examples where God spoke to somebody and gave them orders to do something that seemed neither wise (Jonah to visit Ninevah) nor in character (Saul to become King). Not to mention the last filter, which is “what do people you most trust think about it?”, is completely blown out of the water by Job’s experience.
The five filters are a nice linear structure for determining God’s voice, but it doesn’t seem to hold up. And I might add that a skeptic might interpret the authors experience of hearing God quite a bit differently than the author himself. Hybels does little to differentiate between “hearing from God” and thinking rationally…or for that matter, from the stroke of genius countless inventors have had when an idea finally comes together in their mind.
I also found the book to weave around a variety of other topics — from social justice to immigration — that have little to do with the question of how we hear from God. I liked Hybels’ take on these topics and found nothing to object to … I just don’t see how they fit into the topic of the book.
So, can you tell I didn’t think much of this book? I’m probably being too hard. There are some nuggets of good information in the book, just not anything groundbreaking. If you are thinking about it, go ahead and read it, but don’t get your hopes up.
