Just a Word

When the boy Samuel finally got around to knowing that the One calling his name was the Voice of God, he really got an earful.  He had no desire to be privy to the information God revealed to him about what was ahead for the man in next room.  Another who got an earful when God spoke was Moses.  Moses may have gone to the see the burning bush out of curiosity, but God had a lot to say to him while his curiosity was being satisfied.  But, if we are thinking about those who got an earful from God, we surely have to remember the prophets.  What they heard could fill a book!

 

It is not likely to be this way for those of us who enter the silence as a way of positioning ourselves to hear the Voice of God.  I remember my initial forays into this spiritual discipline to be moments of hearing not volumes, but single words, or maybe two or three.  The first time I really prayed in such a way was in a moment when a woman came with a busted marriage and asked me to pray for her.  While I had my notions about how to pray, for some reason I ask God and waited for a few moments.  In the silence of waiting the word "peace" came from some place within my spirit.  I knew then and I know now I never would have simply prayed for peace had it not been for the guidance of the Spirit.

 

My experience tells me not to expect lengthy monologues when I am listening for the Voice of God.  Maybe others experience it differently, but when something is received which resonates in my spirit as a Word from the Holy Spirit, it is never much more than a word or two or three.  It has always seemed that listening means listening for whatever and however God chooses to speak to us.  To enter into that moment of silent listening with any other spirit seems only to be presumptuous.