Listening For The Voice Of God
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles Tags: Bible Lessons on Hearing the Word
The popularity of personal digital music players in recent years, has resulted in concerns about hearing loss. In fact, the design of the music players and their earphones has been the target of complaints and lawsuits. Long-term exposure to music at a high volume has been shown to cause serious hearing impairment. It’s a fact that too much hearing can result in our inability to hear.
We live in a world filled with various noises — some are extremely loud, while others are designed to sell, plead, seduce, and deceive. In the midst of these harsh dissonant sounds, it’s easy to miss the one Voice that matters the most (Matthew 17:5; Acts 3:22).
Elijah had listened to Jezebel’s threats and the voice of his own fear, so he fled to a cave to hide. In the cave he was confronted with the overwhelming noise of wind, an earthquake, and fire (1 Kings 19:11-12). Then the cave grew silent and the voice of the Lord “” the only sound that really mattered — broke through as “a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12 KJV).
If we are to truly “hear” God speaking to us through His Word (Matthew 11:15; Matthew 13:9; Revelation 2:7; Revelation 2:11; Revelation 2:17; Revelation 2:29; Revelation 3:6; Revelation 3:13), we need to absent ourselves from the “noise” (distractions) of the world. Only when we retire to a place of quietness (Matthew 14:23), learn to be quiet ourselves (Psalm 46:10), and meditate on God’s word (Psalm 1:1-2), can we truly understand what it means to commune with the God who cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).
Today in our “quiet time” and “quiet place,” let us make a sincere effort to “listen” for the voice of God as we read and study His inspired Word (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV), without any distractions from worldly “noise” (cf. Romans 12:2; Colossians 1:9-11; Colossians 3:10).