What Most Miss! Series

Have you ever felt like you missed something important? Maybe it was an opportunity, a moment, or a conversation that could have changed everything. Spiritually speaking, many of us have missed something just as important: the voice of God. He speaks, He guides, but often His voice is missed because we aren't attuned to it. We expect God’s voice to come through loud and dramatic ways, but more often than not, it’s subtle, quiet, and found in the moments we least expect.

In today’s fast-paced world, distractions are all around us. Our minds are constantly flooded with information, tasks, and worries, making it easy to overlook the gentle nudges of God’s voice. Like Samuel in 1 Samuel 3, we often fail to recognize that God is speaking because His voice isn’t always what we expect.

God is always speaking, but many people miss His voice simply because they aren’t spiritually alert. Today, we’re going to explore the common reasons why we miss God’s voice and learn how to become more attuned to the subtle ways in which He communicates. God is speaking, but the question is: Are you listening?

1. Expecting God’s Voice in the Extraordinary

One of the biggest reasons we miss God’s voice is because we expect Him to speak through extraordinary means. We think that if God is going to speak, it will be through a miraculous sign, a vision, or a voice from the heavens. We forget that God often chooses to speak in the ordinary moments of our lives.

In 1 Samuel 3, we see young Samuel being called by God for the first time. It was late at night, and Samuel was lying down in the temple, resting. When God called his name, Samuel thought it was Eli, the priest, speaking to him. Three times God called, and each time, Samuel didn’t recognize that it was God. Why? Because Samuel wasn’t expecting God’s voice to come in such an ordinary moment. He was in the temple, doing his daily tasks, and he didn’t think that God would interrupt his normal routine to speak.

How often do we miss God’s voice because we aren’t expecting Him to speak in the ordinary? We look for Him in church services, during prayer meetings, or in moments of intense spiritual activity, but we overlook the fact that He is speaking to us in the day-to-day moments of life.

We expect God’s voice to come through a supernatural experience, but more often than not, God speaks to us through the mundane. In the stillness of the night, in the conversations we have with others, in the thoughts that come to our minds, God is present, speaking. But if we’re only looking for Him in the spectacular, we will miss the ways He is speaking in the everyday.

Think about how Jesus taught during His time on earth. He didn’t always speak in grand theological terms—He often used parables, simple stories from everyday life, to convey deep spiritual truths. In Matthew 13, we see Jesus teaching the crowds in parables, using examples like seeds, fields, and fishermen. Many of the people who heard Him missed the deeper message because they were expecting something more extraordinary. Jesus said in Matthew 13:13, “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.” The truth was right in front of them, but they missed it.

We tend to imagine God only speaking through burning bushes or parting seas, but the reality is God’s voice often comes in a whisper, in the day-to-day routines. Even when it seems ordinary, it doesn’t mean it’s not divine. Look at the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19. After the earthquake, the wind, and the fire, God’s voice came in a “still small voice.” Elijah had to be in tune with the subtle to hear the divine.

In the same way, we need to tune our hearts and minds to be attentive to the ordinary moments in which God speaks. He might not appear in a blaze of fire, but He could speak through an encouraging word from a friend, a passage of Scripture that jumps out at us, or even the deep peace we feel in our hearts during difficult moments. God is near and speaking, but are we paying attention?

2. Missing God’s Voice Due to Distractions

Another major reason we miss God’s voice is because we are distracted. Our world is full of noise. From social media, to news, to the constant demands of work and family, we are bombarded with distractions that make it hard to hear God. In the midst of all the noise, God’s voice can easily be drowned out.

In Mark 4:18-19, Jesus describes this very issue in the parable of the sower. He talks about the seed that falls among thorns, saying, “And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” The seed represents God’s word, and the thorns are the distractions of life—the worries, the pursuit of wealth, and the desires for other things. These distractions choke out the word, making it unfruitful in our lives.