Let God Be God

To speak of learning to listen for the voice of God as He speaks His Word to us sounds so unspiritual.  It resonates more with something which we do in a math or biology classroom.  Yet, the term is appropriate because God does not relate to anyone of us in the way He relates to another.  We are each an individual.  Each one of us is a child of His and even as we relate differently and communicate differently with each one of our children, so does God with us.  The reference to learning is appropriate because it points toward recognizing the way He speaks to us.   

As we look at some of the Biblical characters we see that Moses heard the voice of the Lord in a bush.  Or, was it in the fire that consumed the bush?  In another place the Word says, "As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder."  (Exodus 19:19)  From the depth of mystery, Samuel heard his name called in the silence which prevailed in a temple shrouded by the darkness of night.  (I Samuel 3:1-10)  Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord in a vision of glory in the Temple while others heard it in a dream.  It is not a good thing to limit God to one way of speaking His voice, nor is it a good thing to expect Him to speak to us as He speaks to another.    

As we enter into the discipline of listening, we are likely to think we are hearing His voice when it is our own.  And while I know someone whose spiritual life I value, testifying to hearing long discourses from the Lord, experience has taught me to listen for the few words instead of the many.  The important thing in this discipline of listening is to let God be God. In faith expect Him to reveal Himself in the way He chooses.  Know that even when it seems He is silent, He may speaking a Word to us that we need to hear.