I read a quote recently that got my attention– “God gave us mouths that close and ears that don’t… that should tell us something”- (Eugene O’Neil). He seems to be telling us that listening can sometimes be a better choice than speaking. And when listening, what if I spent my time specifically listening to the voice of God in place of the outpouring of opinions, thoughts and bold statements flying around?
Who has heard the voice of God?
Wouldn’t it be awesome to hear the word of God audibly? God spoke aloud many times in the Old Testament, starting in Genesis.
God walked with Adam and Eve, giving them verbal instructions to be fruitful… rule over every living creature… what they were to eat… (Genesis 1:28-30)
God had an entire conversation with them regarding their sin in Genesis 3.
The Audible Voice of God
Aaron and Miriam heard the Lord speaking when He came down in a pillar of cloud to chastise them for criticizing Moses.
God said about Moses, “With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles.” Numbers 12:8.
God spoke audibly to the prophets (and in dreams and visions) with the purpose of recording His words and plans.
Samuel thought he was hearing the voice of the priest Eli in the night, but it was God calling to him.
“The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak for your servant is listening’.’” 1 Samuel 3:10.
Listening to God
Jesus spoke throughout the New Testament to teach and announce the plan of our redemption through His sacrifice.
Jesus told his disciples that the gift of the Holy Spirit would come when He was no longer on earth.
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26 NKJV.
Once the Bible was in written form and dispersed, it became God’s way of communicating with us. His written word and the guidance and conviction of the Holy Spirit are how we hear Him today.
Hearing God Speak
Wouldn’t it be amazing to hear the voice of God clearly? He speaks to us, but like Samuel, we have to be attentive listeners and know His voice.
It seems these days that we all want to talk and be heard, but we aren’t the best of listeners. (I’m speaking of myself here, too.)
I have a bad habit of listening with “one ear”. I perfected it through years of parenting and multitasking with 4 children. That was a lot of talking, demands, arguments and needs that all wanted to be heard at the same time.
True listening is to pay attention to; and to hear with thoughtful attention. Synonyms for “listen” are to tune-in, concentrate, and be all ears. What a wonderful reminder!
If we want to be listening to God, we need to give Him our full, thoughtful attention.
Be Silent Before the Lord
“Listen and silent are spelled with the same letters- coincidence? I don’t think so.” – Alfred Brendel.
We’re not truly listening if we break into a conversation with our own words or busy formulating how we are going to reply.
Listening involves quieting our minds and giving our full attention to what God wants to tell us. It reminds me of when Jesus spoke to a violent storm on the Sea of Galilee. He quieted all the noise with the simple words “Quiet! Be still!” Mark 4:39 NIV.
Might He be speaking to our hearts in the same way? If we want to hear the voice of God, practice silence and stillness.
Bible Verses about Silence
•When Moses spoke to the Israelites about God’s principles for holy living, he said, “Be silent, O Israel, and listen!” Deuteronomy 27:9 NIV. God wanted their full attention for His important work. He was making them His holy people.
•When the Red Sea stopped the Hebrews’ progress, Moses reassured them that God would save them. “You have only to be silent”: Exodus 14:14 ESV.
Their silence allowed them to hear and see God’s power.
Jesus Remained Silent
Jesus shows us the importance of silence-
•“He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.” Luke 23:9 (In His trial before Herod.)
•“But Jesus remained silent and made no answer.” Mark 14:61 (To the high priest in His trial before Caiaphas.)
•”Do you not hear how many things they testify against you? But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.” Matthew 27:13-14. (In His trial before Pilate.)
•Isaiah prophesied Jesus as the silent lamb.
“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” Isaiah 53:7.
Even though Jesus was innocent of all charges, He remained silent in order to willingly accept our punishment. His strength and serenity were on full display. He didn’t complain, put up a defense, or rail against the injustice.
Jesus used silence to show obedience and self-control.
Knowing the Voice of God
But how can we know if the voice we are hearing is from God?
Jesus used the parable of the Good Shepherd to illustrate how we can distinguish His voice from others.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me… My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:14, 27 NIV.
When our relationship mirrors that of the sheep and their shepherd, we trust Him and follow His lead. Knowing Jesus’ voice means we prefer His voice to all the other voices swirling around us. Steeped long enough in His word, we can discern His voice from those who try to deceive us.
The closer your personal relationship with Jesus, the easier it is to clearly hear what He has to say to you.
How to Listen to God
•Find a time to meet with Him daily in stillness and silence.
This does not have to happen at the same time of the day or be long and drawn out. Silence your phone and find a quiet place without distractions.
It may be as you first wake up, or as you lie down to sleep. Going for a solo walk, driving without the radio on, or going into a room and shutting the door for privacy can be quiet places to hear from God.
•Consistency in all things brings results. Listening to the voice of God becomes fine-tuned over time.
There is no magic formula. Listening to His voice comes by focusing on your relationship.
If you only come to Him for answers when you are facing a crisis, or need guidance on an important decision, you may be frustrated that you aren’t clearly hearing His voice. He wants you to hear Him clearly. Invest the time into speaking and listening to Him regularly.
•Open your Bible.
God speaks to us every moment we spend in His Word. Listen for the Holy Spirit to draw your attention to a passage, spark a curiosity about what you have read, give you understanding, or convict you to make a change.
When this happens, turn it into a conversation. Ask questions. Listen for His answer.
•Spend time in His presence through worship and praise.
Pause and listen occasionally as you praise Him. Speaking with our Lord is supposed to be a dialogue, not a one-sided conversation! I’m guilty of doing this without going the extra mile and intentionally listening for His response.
Listen and Hear
•Listen with the focus of hearing His plans and ideas.
We go to His presence often with our worries, our desires, and our frustrations. He wants us to lay all these things out to Him, but also go one step further.
Try asking Him to tell you what action He wants you to take, what comfort He has for you, or what spiritual truth to apply to your situation.
•Don’t force it.
We will hear God’s voice through the help of the Holy Spirit. (John 16:13) God is ready to speak to us! (Jeremiah 33:3, Psalm 145:18, Matthew 7:7.)
He will, however, speak to us with what He wants us to hear, not necessarily what we ask of Him. Be patient, persistent, and open to His thoughts, teachings and guiding.
•God can speak through circumstances (and mysterious ways!)
When I was contemplating following through on starting my blog, I argued plenty with God (but with lots of me talking and no listening.) I just kept laying out the reasons why I wasn’t qualified.
One day as I was driving and listening to the radio, I heard a commercial for a Christian Writers Conference in my area. My conscience was pricked, but I resisted.
I continued to hear this commercial repeatedly until I finally gave in and checked it out. It turned out to be the springboard and encouragement I needed to go forward in His plan.
How many times does your “verse of the day”, a Facebook post, or a song seem to be the perfect bit of encouragement/love/ comfort you need?
God can speak through circumstances, conversations with others, our thoughts, music, books we read, beauty in nature- the list is endless.
But one thing will always hold true- His voice always stands up to Biblical truth. He would never speak words that contradict Biblical principles.
Hearing God in the Silence
I stood at the window with my eyes closed, basking in the weak winter sunlight. I spoke these simple words, “Lord, you are my King. You alone are worthy of praise.”
I waited in silence and heard the words, “I see you.” My tea kettle whistled, and the moment was over.
I went back to my computer and googled “Bible verse I see you” and here’s the first thing I found:
“For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9a (NIV)
Isn’t that a beautiful word picture? He is looking on us, ready to strengthen us with His truth and guidance!
Speak Lord, Your Servant is Listening
Samuel’s response to the Lord was a simple prayer that we can all pray as we go to God with the desire to hear from Him. We often spend a lot of time in prayer speaking to God, but never take the time to listen to His reply.
Sit in silence with your Lord and He will call you by name, leading you in the way you should go. He loves you and wants you to know Him in an intimate and deep way. Are you listening?
Blessings!
AnnMarie
All Scripture is taken from the NIV unless specified otherwise.
Photo Credits: AnnMarie Anderson, Deposit Photos
Thank you for this. I just discovered how important it is to sit in silence. I’ve also had several instances when the “verse of the day” would relate to something I’m struggling with.
You’re welcome, Grace! I also have had the “verse of the day” speak to me at just the right time- our God is an awesome God! Listening to His voice was new to me too- being still doesn’t come easy to me. But it has been an amazing experience to listen to His voice.
This statement really hit home with me:
“ And when listening, what if I spent my time specifically listening to the voice of God in place of the outpouring of opinions, thoughts and bold statements flying around?”
I definitely need to listen more for God! Thanks for the encouragement.
Right?! There are so many avenues for us to “listen” to the world. They sometimes frustrate and irritate me, so I wonder…why am I listening to this? I need to listen to the One who only speaks truth!
As concerning the Word of life, Luke 10 section 25-28 says: On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
Luke 18 section 18-25 says: A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'” “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 5 section 43-48 says: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
In Old Testament, the Jewish people and their ancestors were given the Law to observe. First, What Adam and Eve should observe was that they could not eat the fruits from the tree of wisdom. Then, their son Cain was told that he should not kill. As sins became increased, the laws were also added more. Up to the generation of Moses, the Law in Old Testament was given to Israelites. We know that the Law is good and the Law is used to punish people who commit sins, but people cannot obey the Law because the sinful spirits are in people. Even that we know stealing and giving false testimony are sinful, but greedy and pride spirits in us drive us to do sinful things. So as Old Testament prophesied we need to get rid of our sinful nature from our spirits.
Jeremiah 31 section 31-33 says: “The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Ezekiel 36 section 24-27 says: “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
The prophecies are fulfilled when Jesus begins to teach love. The two greatest commandments are ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” Love is above the Law and if people have love they are free from the law of sin and death. People who are full of love will not think about stealing or giving false testimony but are merciful and they feed hungry people or give thirsty people something to drink or invite strangers in or clothe people who need clothes. The Law is for people who commit sins. Nobody will say that he will get reward because he does not steal before. But love is the grace we get. And with love we will get eternal life.
Romans 13 section 8-10 says: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Luke 17 section 20-21 says: Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say,’ Here it is,’ or ‘ There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”
John 4 section 23-24 says: Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Amen and Amen! Thank you for sharing these beautiful words!
Thank you for this beautiful post. Listening is very important in every relationship.
I love the “I see you” and “the closer your personal relationship with Jesus, the easier it is to clearly hear what He has to say to you.”
Amen.God sees us always and He will always sees us through.
The Lord desires to speak to us because we are His friends. Sadly, we only do the talking when we come to Him , we can’t clearly hear His voice.
The Bible says:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. – Deut.6:4-9
We must hear- listen to God, to His Word .
“There is hope in every single word You say
I don’t wanna miss one word You speak
‘Cause everything You say is life to me
I don’t wanna miss one word You speak
Quiet my heart, I’m listening”
The Greek Philosopher Epictetus said:
“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”
Everybody wants to be heard , but do we really listen ?
Yeah, that’s right. “Are we listening?”
I love this song! It’s like a prayer to me! I’m very excited to go deeper into this topic. Our small group Bible study is starting a 7 week study next week on discerning the voice of God! God bless you, your family, and your ministry!
This subject is near and dear to my heart. I have written the importance of listen within the Refining curriculum along with part of a Chapter in my recent book, Crown the Sword. I plan on sharing your blog with current book study participants. The article is outstanding. Thank you!!!
Wow, thank you Genna! This subject is dear to me as well! I prayed that others would be encouraged to listen for His voice and you will surely bring that to fruition!
I love your “I see you” story/experience. ❤️
Good reminder of the significance of listening AND being silent. Thanks, Ann
It was a blessing, for sure. Thanks Cindy.