Hearing God's Voice (Part One)

Selective hearing – children and husbands have been accused of this malady for decades. Little did I know that I too suffered from this affliction. The Bible contains many verses that are cryptic or difficult to understand. Often I make the unfortunate choice to ignore a passage I don’t understand rather than to seek out its meaning – verses that refer to God’s voice for instance.

In the Old Testament, God’s voice would at times thunder from clouds, softly whisper, or come from a burning bush. God spoke to David, Elijah and Samuel. My familiarity with these stories however, did not translate to the knowledge or belief that I could hear God today. Then, one day, God changed that.

I’d been working on a business project with a husband and wife team. They were sensing some change in God’s leading and requested that we have a prayer meeting. I agreed and we met. As we sat around the table, they explained how they pray. “We ask God for his guidance and then we wait.” I was stunned. “God speaks to us, and his word says ‘my sheep hear my voice’.” “Sometimes his voice speaks to us in the form of pictures, or words, it can be conversational, or sometimes it’s just a feeling of peace” “Let’s each write down what we hear.”

Pens in hand, we bowed our heads and prayed for direction with the business project. I peeked and saw one of them scribbling furiously on his paper. I had no idea how this was supposed to work and even thought it might be silly. They shared what they’d heard, then we prayed, shared and prayed. Suddenly the focus was on me. I shared that I had felt God prompting me to ‘unclutter’ in recent months. As we prayed, we asked God what ‘unclutter’ means. I got my answer. I drew 3 lines to indicate a house. “What does this mean?” We asked. I drew 4 stick people in the house. The picture was becoming clearer, but we still asked ‘what does this mean?’ Then I was given 3 words: Focus Give Time. It was clear; God was asking me to drop my many projects, including this one, to focus on my 2 toddlers who I’d ignored for the last few months to pursue my own selfish plans.

The couple I was working with was also being led away from our project; so that day our project died and we each chose instead to follow the Holy Sprit’s leading.

As I drove home, I was in complete awe that I had heard the voice of God. I was elated to have access to his presence and leading at anytime. How could I not have known all this time? If I think about it, his word promises that he will guide and lead us. Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” (Isaiah 30:21) He also promises, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)

Praise the Lord that we can seek and know and hear him!

Helpful verses

“We are the people he watches over, the sheep under his care.
Oh, that you would listen to his voice today!”
Psalm 95:7

Remember what it says: “Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.”
Hebrews 3:15

Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left
Isaiah 30:21

1 comment:

Sab said...

That's incredible. I really need to try to do more listening prayer. I'm not very good at it. I'm too impatient. :(