Listening For His Still, Small Voice

Fearing his wife was losing her hearing, a man stood at the back of the kitchen as she was washing dishes in the sink and said “I love you”. Hearing no response, he moved closer, again saying, “I love you”. Again, hearing no response, he stands directly behind her and says, “I love you”. She turns around to face him, and says, “For the third time, already, I love you too.” Applying this to this morning’s message, just because we don’t hear God, doesn’t mean He’s not speaking.

A common complaint from people is that God doesn’t hear them speaking to Him, or that He doesn’t speak to them. The answer to those complaints is, Yes He does! Like the wife at the sink, He hears us, even if we don’t think He has, but it’s us who don’t hear Him. A couple weeks ago, I talked about hearing and listening. That Sunday’s Scripture was about the young Samuel twice hearing a voice he thought was the priest Eli calling him, but was finally told it was God calling, and if he heard Him again, he was to say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening”. When Samuel stopped to listen, as he was told, he heard God talking to him. And God continued to speak to him throughout his life as His prophet, His Voice to the people. But it was critical that Samuel listened to God’s Voice before He spoke for Him.

In today’s world, there is so much noise that may even drown out God’s voice speaking to us. We hear many things, but unless we listen, we may not understand what we’re hearing. Many athletes, warming up before a game, wear noise cancelling headphones that block out the noise around them that would distract them from their preparations. What a blessing if we had spiritual headphones allowing us to block out the world’s noise and just hear God speaking. The world’s noise might be the news or entertainment programs with their agendas of moral decadence and twisted philosophies that slip into our subconscious and begin to take root. There’s an adage “You can’t keep a bird from landing on your head, but you can keep it from building a nest.” We may not have noise cancelling headsets to block the world’s noise, but we can discern God’s Voice by filtering out the noise, by knowing God’s Word, refreshing our faith with daily devotions and prayer, and applying His teachings to our lives.

So, what are some ways we hear might hear God speaking? Our Call to Worship, (from Psalm 29) called for us to ascribe, or recognize God’s strength and the glory of His Name. We can see God in nature, hear His Voice thundering above the mighty waters, and in flashes of lightning. Our Opening Hymn further recognized this as our Father’s world, and the wonders His Hands have brought. Debbie joyfully reminds us almost every Sunday to thank Him for the beautiful day around us. David begins Psalm 8, “O Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens”, then expresses his awe for the sun, moon, and stars in God’s Creation. If we ignore Him in nature around us, we miss hearing His powerful, majestic voice. If we ignore Him in all of His Creation, we fail to fully know His Presence around us.

In our OT lesson, God spoke to Elijah, and through him, to others. As a prophet, Elijah spoke God’s words against Israel’s wickedness and idolatry. Baal had become their god. God sends a 3 ½ year drought to get their attention, but Israel doesn’t repent. Then God has Elijah challenge the 450 priests of Baal to a contest to prove God’s power. Two bulls would be killed and each placed on an altar, without setting fire to them. Each side would then call on the name of their god, and the god who answered by fire would be God.

The priests of Baal began, calling to Baal, and dancing around their altar until noon, without any response. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Perhaps he’s deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he’s sleeping and must be awakened.” They shouted louder, even slashing themselves with swords and spears until their blood flowed. They continued their frantic appeals until it was time for their evening sacrifice, without any response. Then it was Elijah’s turn.

Israel’s altar had fallen into disrepair, so Elijah rebuilt it with twelve stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel, then arranged the wood, then the sacrifice. To make things interesting, he had a trench built around the altar and poured four large jars of water over the altar three times, so that water was dripping from the altar, even filling the trench around it.