In Florida this past fall we had a little storm pass through. We didn’t have to try to hear it. We couldn’t help but hear the 70 mph winds blowing through the neighborhood and trees. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to hear God’s voice that easily. Unfortunately, there are a lot of voices vying for our attention. Let us do try and listen to what God is saying. For Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice and follow Me.” Hear, and follow.
Have you ever just stopped to simply listen? Just stopping to see what you could hear? Maybe it was out in the country in quiet woods. Maybe it was in a busy mall. Or a family gathering with lots of conversations happening at the same time and you are listening in on all the different chatter.
Do You Hear What I Hear
Or maybe it’s home alone at night and you are trying not to hear something. Like the creaking stairway or floors, knowing no one is home but you. Or a noise coming from your closet. Okay, I just watched Monster’s Inc. Or one time like me, hearing what I thought was a person outside of my house! Sometimes we don’t want to hear.
It’s interesting to me that the animal kingdom has a great ability to distinguish sounds (voices) from the babies to their mothers. They can pick them out of a crowd even though the babies all look and sound alike as do the mommas…at least to us.
My Sheep Hear My Voice
And sheep? They know their shepherd’s voice and will follow no other. Take a look at this:
That is amazing to me. I love this video. What a parallel to/for us, in knowing our Shepherd’s voice. Again Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice and follow me.”
Sometimes we have selective listening. Carmen was being honest with me the other day, and she said I have two faults. I don’t listen…and something else. 😊 So we hear, but we don’t listen. We get distracted or maybe even tune something, or someone, out. Ouch!
Do you follow every voice you hear?
And did you know social media has a way of making you hear only what you want to hear. You might be thinking, “Why would I want to hear anything else other than what I want to hear?” Well, maybe you are missing out on what you need to hear.
Then you have news media, telling you things they want you to hear and believe…even if it’s not true. How do you know what to believe and who to trust? And oh baby, it’s not just one sided! The right and the left have their issues!
Ever just want God to make it clear to you what He is saying and so you think, “God, just hit me over the head with a brick! Make it clear.” Right? Even Gideon wanted a sign, and even that wasn’t enough. He wanted two signs regarding the fleece (Judges 6). Back to hearing God’s voice:
I Kings 19:11-12 NIV
The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then 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.
I did a search on verses about listening. There were hundreds. Too many to list. But scripture makes it clear, we should be listening. Listening to God. And also listening to others.
Do a search on speaking and/or talking? Again, a lot of verses. But it’s clear, scripture tells us that those who restrain their lips or holds their tongue are considered wise. Even a fool is considered wise when holding their tongue.
Proverbs 17:28 ESV
Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
If God is who His word says He is, if His words and his voice indeed created the universe in a hundred billion galaxies being born, if His word heals, delivers and sets free, and if His word is eternal and gives life eternal, then why wouldn’t you want to learn to hear His voice and follow it, follow Him, to the ends of the earth?
Challenge of the Week
To hear His voice you must know the words He speaks. See if you can meet the challenge of being in His word (the Bible) each day of this week. I don’t care if it is a short paragraph, a Proverb, or a whole chapter each day. Or maybe it’s a word from the Daily Bible App. Learn to hear His voice. It’s life changing, eternally. So it is and so be it!
