Hearing the Voice

Numerous times the Scripture speaks of God speaking to people.  Either He speaks directly, or through a prophetic voice such as Jeremiah, of even an angel.  With these narratives we have no problem.  However, if some man or woman down the pew from us starts talking about God speaking to them, we raise our eyebrows of skepticism and doubt.  It is not problematic for God to speak through the Biblical people, but a bit of a stretch for us to hear such a report from our neighbor down the street.    

I find myself standing alongside of those who know in their spirits that they have heard the voice of the Lord speaking to them.  I remember the first time as being that moment when I accepted into my life the Christ as the Savior sent from God.  In that moment of personal inner change, I also heard the Lord calling me to preach.  It was not an audible voice heard with ears, but one which was received and heard in my spirit that was as convincing and powerful as any word I have heard.  Over the years there have been other moments of inner urging which I knew to be from the Spirit of God, but none are remembered with such clarity as the first one long years ago.   

Coming into the years of retirement has brought me into a season when there has been much more awareness that we can expect to hear that Voice which cannot be heard.  One day in the garden while kneeling in the dirt and weeding the okra seedlings there came from within me an awareness that God was speaking and saying to me, "Pay Attention."  I have no more forgotten that afternoon than the night I knelt by my bed in the Alamo parsonage and heard the call to preach.  Hearing that Voice has directed my life, but it has not come because I am special.  He seeks to speak to all of us.  The hymn, "In the Garden," speaks of hearing the voice of God in all of its three verses.  God still speaks and those who listen, hear.