Hearing the Holy Articulation

Like a lot of other folks I have never heard the Voice of God; yet, I also know He has spoken to me.  The boy Samuel heard the Voice of the Lord in the darkness of the night.  When I was a boy I was scared of sounds of the night and if I had heard a voice back then, I likely would have died of fright at an early age.  And though I have been in several thousand worship services, I missed the experience Isaiah wrote about when he said, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying..."   (Isaiah 6:8)   Then there was Moses who heard the Voice calling his name out of a fiery bush.  I am sure God knows my name, but I have never heard mine like Moses seemed to have heard his.    

It is still true, however, that I have heard the Voice of the Lord speaking to me.  I have come to understand that God is not only the Invisible One who reveals Himself, but also the Voiceless One who speaks to us.  These years around here meandering around the farm in the midst of Creation have cemented this truth in my reality.  There have been times in the practice of devotional life when I have set aside time to listen to what God might want to say.  After all, prayer is not some one way conversation street.  But, in these days of being in the Creation, I have found myself experiencing surprise after surprise at the way the One without a Voice has spoken to me.    

In the absence of a Voice requiring ears, He has been heard speaking words which have originated from within in the deep place of my soul where the Spirit seeks to do mysterious and holy work in my heart.  I have learned not to be surprised, but to understand that He brings to my conscious the things He has been stirring in my subconscious through the mixing of things like the reading of the Word, remembrances of teachings and influences from another time, experiences which He has given me, and the way He has created me and shaped me.  Out of this holy stirring comes a Voice not heard with ears, but with the heart.  And with those words come an assurance that they are His words as surely as Samuel, Isaiah, and Moses heard them long ago.