Acts 4

 "Should we obey you or God?"

The answer seems obvious, we obey God. However, the problem comes out when there are conflicting answers when both parties claim to be listening to God. Normally the Sanhedrin could have just said we hear from God through the Scriptures. The problem with this claim was the healing which they could not deny and more importantly to them, the people couldn't deny. The miracle was a sign that God was working and to top it off the Apostles were quoting the very scriptures they claimed to follow. So what do they do? Here, they passed the buck by making a threat and hoping the Apostles would just go away. The Apostles had all heard from Jesus and so knew they were right in sharing the truth of Jesus and they did.

What does this have to do with us today? The problem I see is that there are many people out there claiming to hear from God. This verse could be used to justify that they should listen to what they think rather than anyone else. However, this verse isn't claiming that we need to follow the inner voice that we think is God. It is saying that we should obey God. When judging what to follow we need to see if what we think we hear is actually from God. I won't list everything or all proofs, books have been written on the subject and this is just a small post. 

First, is what we are hearing in context with Scripture. If it doesn't line up with scripture, then you can easily dismiss it. Also, how has the church in general, throughout history, looked at this issue? Does what you think you are hearing or what others are claiming line up with the character of God? Character doesn't mean that God may have commanded something like it. Wiping out an entire village was something God commanded but there were reasons, but it wasn't something that his character would have enjoyed (like a cop shooting a shooter to save lives). Finally, what do other spiritual leaders you know say. This final one can be tricky because we can find "spiritual leaders" to say anything we like (the quotes here indicate that they may be called that but not really it). 

Once the command/will of God is determined then the chose is clear though it may not be easy. Actually obeying God is rarely easy but then doing anything that makes a difference or calls for excellence never is easy.