Hearing From God

Yesterday, during my sermon, I gave some attention to this idea of “hearing from God.”  In fact, when I asked our congregation how many of them felt as though they had actually received a “specific, deliberate, individual word from the Lord,” nearly every hand in the building shot up.  And yet when I asked who among the audience had heard an actual “audible” voice, only one or two hands were raised.  The response was expected.  Although most of us have never heard an actual voice, most of us have heard from God in some way… maybe through the whisper and prompting of the Spirit, maybe through the words of a friend, or maybe through the reading of Scripture.  As I stated yesterday, I really believe that God speaks and that He speaks often.  The problem with our communication with God lies within us, and not with God.  Sometimes, we just don’t listen for His voice.

This past weekend I was in Tuscaloosa for the Alabama game.  A few minutes into the game, a young woman sitting in front of me turned and asked, “Are you from Nashville?”  I said, “Yes.”  And then her follow-up question… “Aren’t you a minister?”  Again I said, “Yes.”  “I thought so,” she replied.  I recognized your voice from your television broadcast.”  Turns out she lives here in town and teaches in East Nashville.  Interesting. She knew who I was, because she heard my voice.  Would we recognize the voice of God if He spoke?  Maybe that’s the problem.  Maybe His voice sounds very different from what we might expect.  Maybe instead of a booming voice from the heavens, His voice sounds like a gentle whisper, or the laughter of a child, or the shaky voice of a senior adult who offers a word of counsel.  Think about it… God has billions of voices to use, each one with a different accent, a different inflection, a different pitch.  God can “borrow” a voice from one of His children at any time in order to speak in our direction.  And just maybe, at times, God borrows your voice to speak to someone else.  How about that thought?  What if God wants to use your voice today to speak a word of hope, a word of correction, or a word of encouragement to someone He places in your path?  Are you willing to be used that way?  Take care with your words… speak with grace, hope, civility, and respect.  You just never know what God may be saying.