Noises. So many sources of sound surround me. I don’t like
loud noises. I can’t tolerate multiple sounds at the same time. I hear
everything around me. My eyesight isn’t too good, but man, I swear I have
bionic ears. It’s a curse and a blessing. If someone talks to me, I’m easily
distracted by all the other things that simultaneously make noise or move about.
It confuses me sometimes. My attention will actually turn from the person
talking to me to the bird that just landed in the tress and decided to chirp.
Then I get a bewildered look on my face and the person I’m talking to surely
thinks I’ve gone nuts. It makes it
difficult for me to hold a conversation for any stretch of time. The only noise
I actively seek is the sound of the T.V. at night before I go to bed and as I
sleep. At 3:01 every morning the cable automatically shuts off. Like clockwork,
at 3:02, my body tells me it’s time to wake up to turn the T.V. back on (I can’t
figure out how to change the settings so it won’t go off). If I’m just kicking back and watching T.V., the
volume is kept fairly low. When it’s too loud, I hear all the background noises
and it drives me crazy.
Now, you’ll have to forgive me because this post is taking a
completely different direction than originally intended. I was going to write
about my fabulous quiet day off work last Friday, but as I started this
paragraph, I was slapped with this thought…
With so many distractions, sounds, and attention grabbers, I
struggle sometimes, well if I’m honest, often times, with discerning God’s
voice speaking to me. No, not an actual audible voice--I don’t think I’m mature
enough in my relationship with God to have an experience like that. One such experience
might land me in someone’s Psych Ward. Instead, I’m talking about that still
small voice within that speaks when I seek comfort, guidance, or an answer from
God. When I ask God if I should go left or right, stay or move, when I get an answer,
how do I know if it’s God’s voice, my flesh, or other outward influences?
In my quest to have a closer relationship with God and
remain in His will, I’ve learned discerning His voice isn’t necessarily as
difficult as I tend to perceive it to be. Numerous scholars, theologians,
pastors, teachers, etc. have spent years researching this very subject. I’m no scholar;
in fact, I’m a college drop out. But I’m convinced I have the short form answer
to learning to discern God’s voice. Stay with me, I think I can cover this in
one paragraph…
Shut up. Listen. Verify. Yep, I said two words that are
forbidden in my house…shut up! Shut your mouth and be quiet. Turn off all the
distractions. Spend alone time with God. It’s hard to hear when you’re running
your mouth. After all, your mouth shares a face with your ears-they’re only
inches apart…I guarantee the words you speak out of your mouth will be the
first thing your ears will hear. Listen. When you and your surroundings are
quiet, you begin to hear things that you wouldn’t otherwise necessarily hear. I
frequently tell my kids “you can’t listen to me if you’re talking at the same
time I am.” It works that way with God. I can’t imagine all the times I didn’t hear
what God was telling me because I was too busy running my mouth or distracted
by other things. I think God is always having a conversation with us, but sometimes
that conversation is one-sided because we ignore Him. I think the consequences
of not hearing God are the same whether the action of ignoring Him is
deliberate or accidental. Verify. So, I heard a voice and I think it was a
message from God, but how do I know for certain? Everything God tells us can be
confirmed by His Word, our guidebook, the Bible. God will never give us a
message that goes against what the Bible says. Never. It’s so important to
delve into the Word of God. Get to know what it says. Read it. Study it. Live by
it. Use it as a roadmap for this journey of life.
See, I told you, one paragraph (a long paragraph that should
have probably been three)! I needed this message to remind me to be quiet and
listen to God. Is there more to the study of discerning God’s voice?
Absolutely. But I like to keep things simple. Not to discount anyone’s in-depth
study on this topic, but sometimes in order to learn something and commit it to
memory and practice, complex parts must be broken into smaller pieces to be
absorbed. I wouldn’t give you a block of tofu (steak for all you meat-eaters) and
expect you to swallow it in one breath. A normal person would cut the tofu
(steak) into smaller pieces to consume. Well, that’s what I just attempted to
do with this very complicated subject of knowing God’s voice. Hopefully it
worked. Now, shut up and listen!
“Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the
discerning get guidance…”
-Proverbs
1:5 (NIV)
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