The world we live in is… loud. Certainly, if God wanted to speak, His voice could drown out all the other noises that come our way; however, it seems that’s not how He most often chooses to make Himself known. So, how does God speak? How can we hear God in a world full of noise?
If you’re like many of us, this is a bit of how your day goes…
The alarm goes off. The radio blares. The phone rings. The TV is on. Co-workers are stopping by your desk. Unanswered emails are calling your name. The dog is barking. The kids are screaming. Your electronics are sounding audible notifications – a variety of *ding*s.
Countless messages and communications are being placed in front of your eyes, and encircling your eardrums, all throughout the day.
If the Lord God isn’t speaking with a booming voice, we are definitely bound to miss Him.
There is a passage in the book of Exodus, right before the Ten Commandments are given to Moses, where you see the Israelites camped out at the bottom of Mount Sinai, and the Lord says to Moses, “Get the people ready. I’m going to come down and talk to you.” And then, we see it happen…
Three days later, Exodus 19:16-19 says..
thunder roared… lightning flashed… a dense cloud fell over the mountain… everything was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended in the form of fire. Smoke billowed, and the whole mountain shook violently…
And, as it all…
… grew louder and louder…
we read that…
…God thundered his reply.
Is that how you picture God’s Voice?
James Earl Jones. The Lord God sounds like Mufasa in The Lion King. (It’s okay if your answer is yes. You’re not alone.)
Throughout scripture, we see God speak…
from burning bushes…
from a throne in the sky…
from the heavens, as they are opened, saying, “This is My Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
The Lord God does, indeed, know how to make an entrance and get our attention; but, more often than not…
… the Lord God’s way of reaching us is far more personal, far more intimate, and far more reserved than the boom of thunder.
That time Elijah heard the Voice of God…
If you’re not familiar with the prophet, Elijah, feel free to turn with me in your Bible (or “click the link” with me to an online version). We’re going to jump into 1 Kings 19. But first…
… a little bit about Elijah …
Elijah was a prophet in Israel around 850ish BC (so, roughly 850 years before Jesus was born).
During Elijah’s career, there was a king who ruled Israel. His name was Ahab, but you probably know him best for who he married. Her name was Jezebel. She was “lovely”. (Yeah, not so much.)
In 1 Kings 17, we see Elijah go to King Ahab and inform him that “…because of your disobedience to the Lord, it’s not going to rain in Israel for the next several years. In fact, it’s not going to rain until I say it’s going to rain.” (My paraphrase, but you get the gist.)
So, Ahab’s like, “Oh, ok, cool. Sounds great.”
(… NOT …)
So, Ahab’s like, “Oh ok, I’m going to kill you.”
So, directly after this, the Lord actually says to Elijah, “You need to go and hide.” So, Elijah does.
The plot thickens…
Between 1 Kings 17 and 1 Kings 19, all these very crazy things happen. (You should read it. It’s a fun read.)
In 1 Kings 19, you see Elijah continuing to flee, and, friends, the man is distressed… This prophet of the Lord God is incredibly afraid. (I want you to hear that, even prophets of the Lord God were afraid. They were human. It’s who we are.)
We read that Elijah was alone. He was terrified for his life. He was depressed, literally trying to sleep away his days… and then, you see him travel forty days and forty nights, allllll the way to Mount Sinai. Why?!
Remember Mount Sinai? It’s the mountain I told you about at the beginning…
Moses… thunder… lightning… the booming Voice of God.
Why would Elijah go there!? Because…
Elijah is like, “I need to hear God’s Voice! Where can I go to hear Him?!… I know! I’ll go to the same mountain where He spoke to Moses loud and clear!” So, here he is…
… a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. … Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ~ 1 Kings 19:11-13
Surely, God is in the great and powerful wind… (Nope.)
Surely, God is in the earthquake… (Nope.)
Surely, God is in the fire… (Nope.)
But then, there was a whisper…
What if the Lord speaks to us far more in a whisper than with the boom of an earthquake?
And, if that is the case, how often could you (or I) say that we are quiet enough to hear Him?…
A personal story.
I took this class in seminary. It was every Monday morning, for three hours, an hour away from campus, in the middle of nowhere.
The class was led by our Professor of Spirituality. He was known for saying that “sleep is a spiritual act of worship”. I liked him. He had the lowest, smoothest, calmest voice, and he would sometimes keep the lights off in his classroom on purpose, with just a bit of window-light shining in, because he felt it gave more peace to the room… but, I digress…
Every Monday during this 3 hour class in the wilderness, he would release us into nature for the first two hours, and he would simply say, “Go and listen for God.”
He didn’t care what you did. You could take a walk. You could sit on a large stone. You could journal in the meadow. You could sleep in your car. He was ok with anything. The command was simply, “Listen for God in the stillness.”
Obviously, you weren’t allowed to have your phone. You weren’t allowed to have your laptop. You weren’t allowed to listen to podcasts.
It was just you… and God.
During the last hour of class, all the students would come back together, and we would discuss all the different things the Lord had revealed to us during that time.
Now, you might be thinking, “That sounds so intimidating to me! How stressful! I can’t imagine hearing something from God!”
You might even be thinking, “What if, after two hours, I didn’t hear anything from God? What would that mean about me? How embarrassing and disappointing that would be!”
I’m gonna be honest…
I remember those first several Mondays, walking into the woods, restless as can be, trying to figure out how to hear Him…
I would walk for a while… sit on a log… stare at the sky… walk some more… sit in a different position… hold my hands out in front of me, asking… (ok, begging)..
“Ok, God, here I am… I’m ready to listen…”
(silence)
“I have my Bible here. Is there something You want me to read?…”
(silence)
“Should I think about something?…”
(silence)
“Should I close my eyes? Maybe I should close my eyes…”
(silence)
“Maybe I should hold my hands out?… Palms up?…”
(silence)
“God…???”
If you have been there, begging God to make Himself known to you, here is my honest plea… Don’t give up.
I still remember where I was sitting one Monday morning when a sudden peace rushed over me, and I heard… a word.
It was very much like a whisper.
It was the reminder of a scripture I didn’t even know that I knew, and it met me exactly where I needed it that day. In that moment, a bit of His Word was exactly what I needed, and I knew I had heard the Voice of our Lord God – our very personal, very intimate God – speaking His Word to me.
It was a simple, short word; and yet, it was so loud in my mind.
See, if you’re like me, here’s what we do sometimes…
We pray for the Lord to speak, but what we are really asking for is…
“Lord, speak to me… by giving me a paragraph about my future.”
“Lord, speak to me… by letting me know where I’m gonna be next year.”
“Lord, reveal to me this earth-shattering truth… give me a banner in the sky to display the answer to my problem.”
That’s not often how the Lord speaks…
Even in the scriptures, with the “heroes” of the faith, the majority of them didn’t get many details. They simply heard the call to “Go”, and, in obedience, they did.
The Lord still speaks. Sometimes, in a big way; and, so often, in a whisper.
His Voice may be…
… a verse or phrase that comes to you in a moment of distress.
… a song that you suddenly begin to hum, and then you realize that the words are exactly what you need for the day.
… a nudging… a pull… a thought you can’t deny.
… a peace that comes over you, at a time when peace should feel impossible.
Yes, the Lord’s Voice can be thunderous and earth-shaking; but, most often, the Lord’s Voice is in the subtle, in the stillness… and you and I… we so often miss it, because we allow our lives to be so continuously loud.
On that day, long ago, as the prophet Elijah stood on that mountain, yearning to hear from the Lord God…
… Elijah heard God’s Voice in the way he most needed.
Elijah was distressed. Elijah was terrified. Elijah was on the edge of losing it.
A booming, thunderous voice wasn’t what Elijah needed that day. (And, truthfully, I don’t think it’s what we need either.) Elijah needed the gentle whisper of the Lord God, simply being present with him… showing up for him… softly comforting him with a few, simple words: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Here is my challenge to you, friends, …
… quiet your life.
It doesn’t have to be lengthy. It doesn’t have to be three hours in the wilderness. But, this week, try something…
* Turn your radio off for the 20 minutes you drive to work. Think through a current situation or worry you are wrestling with. Remind yourself of a characteristic of God (e.g. He is loving. He is forgiving. He is kind.) and ask Him to guide you.
* Put down your phone 15 minutes before you go to bed. Ponder your day. What was good? What was hard? Let yourself lie there. (Hey, if you fall asleep, take it from my seminary professor, “Sleep is a spiritual act of worship”.)
* When you wake up in the morning, think about one emotion you are feeling and google scriptures about it. Read one of them. Make that your verse of the day. Cling to it. Write it on a post-it. What does it say about God when you’re feeling that way?
* Open up His Word. Friends, the Bible is God’s Voice. He has given us volumes of who He is and what He says. No, He doesn’t speak the same way to every person; but, He is the same God today that He was when He said those words back then. And, as the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy…
All scripture is God-Breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. ~ 2 Timothy 3:16-17
I know the Bible can be hard.
Where do you even begin, right!? Here’s what I want you to do. You don’t have to know anything about where any book is in this thing. Simply put your fingers right in the middle of your Bible, and open that thing up. You should be in the book of Psalms. The Psalms were written by humans who were trying their hardest to hear from God, and see God, and listen to God, in the midst of whatever harsh things were happening in their world.
God will work with whatever you give Him.
He can speak through anything – any scripture will do; but, we’ve got to seek Him. We are commanded to ask… to seek… to knock.
And, when all else fails, simply focus on the name of Jesus.
Say His Name. Focus on an attribute that you know of him, or a story that you might remember when you think of him. Focus on him. The Word of God, any part of it, does not return empty, and Jesus is the eternal Word of God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. ~ John 1:1-2
Oh, and one more way the Lord speaks…
Don’t be surprised, when you’re driving to work with the radio off or lying in your bed with your phone several feet away, if a person keeps coming to your mind… (Get ready. It might be a person you would never expect.)
The Spirit of God will whisper people’s names to you.
Listen to that. Don’t push those names aside.
Those people may be people who could use a word from you, a call from you, a blessing from you…
They could be people that need forgiveness from you.
God’s work is about reconciling you to Himself, and also about reconciling you to others. Don’t dispel those thoughts. They could very well be from Him.
I believe that the Lord God is constantly speaking…
… through nature.
… through circumstances.
… through Spirit-filled conversations.
… through His Word.
He is speaking, but we must be so intentional not to drown Him out with our noise.
Pursue Him. Keep at it. I know that it might feel completely awkward at first, but I promise you, it won’t feel like that forever. Seeking stillness, waiting upon Him to speak, will become the most sacred part of the day.
In fact, it will transform your life.
Written by Danielle Walker
For more on hearing God, watch Does God Hear Me?! A reminder for when you’re just not sure…