Noise cancels God’s voice… inattention does also. Tune your ears to hear everything God says. Don’t allow anything He says slip away.

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.

 Do what it says.” James 1:22 NIV

“Listen up!”   “Hear me out.”    “Mark my words.”    “Pay attention!”    “Don’t ever forget!”

These phrases are repeated to children everywhere in the world and in every language, and God has been saying this to people since Adam and Eve settled Eden.

There is a price paid for not listening –  when we refuse to listen, we open the door to sin and everything it carries with it. ‘Fingers in the ears have destroyed individuals, families and nations.

If God spoke only a language unknown to us, or if He mumbled or immediately forgot what He just said, that would be one thing. But He is the most articulate, knowledgeable and careful speaker anyone has ever heard. He never speaks before thinking. As Provers 30:5 says “Every word of God is flawless;” NIV which means that everything He has said in his Word holds the same power and authority now as when written millenniums ago.’ A sure way of hearing God’s voice is to regularly ruminate on his words through Scripture.

Check out Isaiah 48:3 and Jeremiah 1:12 to see God’s determination to fulfill what He says will happen. His doom to the sinful and his blessings to the righteous… all will occur as He says.

That’s precisely why it’s critical that we need to learn the sound of God’s voice. So what does it sound like? Job 40:9 says it sounds like thunder. In Isaiah 30:31 & 32 it sounds like harps! And in Exodus 19:16, God terrifies his people with a voice like a very loud trumpet.

Yet in 1 Kings 18, God’s voice is not heard in the rock-breaking wind, nor in the earthquake or fire. In this instance his voice was a ‘still small voice’… almost a whisper.

Don’t be apprehensive about what the voice will sound like, just concentrate on what it says!

Because we use our bodies anatomy to grasp God more fully, we know that his voice doesn’t sound like trumpets, whispers or earthquake. We hear God voice with our spirits. If our spirits are attuned to God and his will, we will, with obedient hearts hear his voice.

If we are moving in a dangerous direction, not paying attention, our spirits will hear a more forceful voice. If we are walking in rebellion, we will most likely hear a voice loud enough to be heard by our neighbors!

Just be confident that God speaks to help us, convince us of his amazing love and give us specific directions for our lives. God’s voice will sound judgment while speaking to unrighteousness, but saves his soft love-directed voice to those of us who call Him Father.