Yes! All the time.
I wouldn’t say it was common in the Old Testament, to read about men and women having conversations with God, but it was normal. How? People ask. Like audibly, hearing a voice with our ears?
Yeah. I am not a Hebrew language expert, but I can use great tools like Biblehub.com to help. “Called” in these verses is just a regular word, “qara” to call out to or address by name. God spoke! What does the audible voice of God sound like? I’ve heard God speak this way only a couple of times. It was the purest, most gentle, true sound I’ve ever experienced. It was so plain, so clear, that I turned to see who was speaking. Hearing the non-audible voice of God became normal in my life ever since I committed my entire life to Him. I learned it was not something I heard with my ears (although my brain could not tell the difference); His words went right to my spirit, my heart so to speak. It was undeniable. I later learned that this is the voice of the Holy Spirit. God spoke to Moses audibly, clearly, with words. But in Exodus 20:18 Moses uses an odd phrase in Hebrew to describe what it was like to hear the voice of God: the people “saw the voices” (or “saw the thunderings”), a kind of sensory overload where sound and sight blur together. And in Deuteronomy 4:12 it says: they heard “the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.”
In this recorded moment with Moses, God was personal, and once again, He chose Moses as His ambassador, delivering His Words; His plans, promises, and will. Two months into the exit out of Egypt and into a multi-generational faith journey with God, we read these expansive words, reaching out over eons of time, “you will be my *kingdom of priests, my *holy nation.” ESV has two footnotes here. (* 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 20:6 and * Lev. 20:26; Deut. 7:6; 14:21; 26:19; 28:9; Isa. 62:12; 1 Pet. 2:9). Hear the echo that stretches out over history and far into the future?
It’s not God spoke, or God will speak, it’s He speaks and His words are reality. God speaks creating all things, the heavens, the earth, and life itself. The magnanimous mystery is that God speaks to us and even more personable; He speaks with us. Can you hear Him now?
Prayer
Dad,
It is extraordinarily surprising that You, the one and only God, above all other gods, would have such a delightful, intimate relationship with us! I will never cease to be amazed by this. And to not just be known by you, but also for us to know you – wow. Then even more, to do life WITH you, to hear and obey you; to speak and be heard by you. Thank you forever for who You are and who we get to be.