I grew up believing the maxim 'voice of people is the voice of God'. But of late i have begun to question the validity of the popular saying. Often times before taking decisions i ask the people whose opinion i value for advice on which route to take. Whenever i am seeking counsel i console myself with a particular verse of the good book which says something about safety in the multitude of counsel.
In as much as the verse is valid and there are circumstances where one does need the counsel of people who have travelled down a particular path, one needs to realise that 'safety' is a 6 letter word just like any other. What if the way to achieve your dreams is not to play it safe? In my quest to come up with an informed opinion as to whether the voice of people is the voice of God. I went to the one place i have known to always provide me with answers for any and every question.
The first thing that struck me was the story of Abraham. At a point in time of his life, God called him and asked him to set off for land which He would show him. Now thats a tall order!!! For one to get up and go without as much as a particular location in mind and at the very least not even a sat nav to help chart your course. I am pretty certain that when he told his father, his father would have begged, cajoled and mostly likely threatened to disown him. His mother, now that would have been another kettle of fish!!!! she would have used all forms of means to try to make him stay, especially the most popular and most effective weapons from the female arsenal; tears.
Family and friends alike would have told him not to leave, but Abraham heeded the voice of God and the rest as they say is history.
Another example that further ilustrated the difference between the voice of God and the voice of people is the disciples experience with Jesus walking on water. Jesus only gave Peter one word, 'come' . Your guess is as good as mine on what the other disciples made of Peter's bid to walk on water to meet Jesus. I reckon there where 3 categories of disciples on the boat with Peter. The first category would have been made up of a group that didnt believe Peter could achieve the feat. The next category would have been made up of the ones who where afraid for him and did not want him to try. The last group would have been of those who where fiercely competitive and did not want him to succeed.
Another pointer was that these disciples also did not recognise who was calling Peter as they thought it was a ghost.
Having pondered on these, i came to the conclusion that when God talks to you, you should not expect everybody to have heard the same thing. The one who has spoken expressly to you, is able to guide you. I have also come to the conclusion that Vox populi Vox Dei was probably coined by a Latin ruler who used the saying as a tool for enshrining some form of democracy.
