While not everyone suffers with hearing loss, we all suffer from time to time with “listening loss.” We fail to pay attention, we miss an important announcement, we disregard a warning siren and all of a sudden we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of an otherwise avoidable mess. We need to make sure we are listening…ESPECIALLY to God.
The good news is that God speaks to us and personally interacts with us; the bad news is sometimes, we fail to heed His voice. The Bible includes many accounts of persons who either disregarded or ignored God’s instructions and subsequently suffered the consequences.
In His landmark book and Bible study, Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby shares four ways that God speaks to us.
- The Bible – Primarily God uses the truths of His Word, as we read it, to speak to circumstances in our lives, questions in our mind, and issues of our heart. However God chooses to speak with us, that communication will ALWAYS be consistent with His Word.
- Prayer – In times of prayer, God speaks to us through the gentle of voice of His Holy Spirit confirming truth, convicting of sin, or providing guidance and instruction.
- The Church – God often uses the wise council of others who are walking closely with the Lord to speak into our lives. We should be careful, however, to always prayerfully consider if what others are telling us is consistent with what God wants us to hear.
- Our Circumstances – While we should not always equate favorable circumstances with God’s pleasure and adverse circumstances with His displeasure, we should still be willing to ask God to show us how He is working around us and what those circumstances can teach us.
I have always been humbled by the fact that God, the Holy Creator of all that is, would want to communicate with me. Yet in spite of His desire to speak, sometimes, I don’t listen. What are some things that keep us from hearing God’s voice? What kind of “spiritual noise” drowns out the voice of God?
- Unconfessed Sin – When we have known sin in our heart and refuse to deal with it, we are choosing our disobedience over God’s will. It’s not that God cannot speak to us, it’s that we cannot hear Him above the noise of our sinful heart. That is why it is important to confess our sin as soon as He makes us aware of it so the lines of communication between us and God stay open.
- Unteachable Spirit – Sometimes we miss the message God has for us because, quite frankly, we don’t think we need to hear it. We think everything is OK and we are doing just fine. When God spoke to young Samuel in the middle of the night, he responded by saying “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Too many times, we come to God saying, “Listen, Lord, for your servant is speaking.” Listen to God with a heart eager to hear what He has to say.
- Undisciplined Life – One time as Elijah sought to hear from God, he listened for God in a strong wind, an earthquake, and a raging fire, but God did not speak through any of those. Finally, God spoke to Elijah in what the Bible calls a “low whisper.” (1 Kings 19:12-13) To hear God, we have to be willing slow down, get alone, and quiet our hearts before Him. God is constantly speaking, but if we are too busy with other things we miss His voice. Set aside time regularly to come off the grid and get alone with God.
What about you? What are some challenges you face hearing from God? Feel free to share in the comments section below.
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