A Voice to Be Heard

Discernment.

Hopefully ends in wisdom, but most often mystifies us. Seeking discernment often begins because we want insight into our decision-making process. For followers of Christ, sometimes we just want to know if our choices are in line with God’s will, but let’s be honest it’s easier said than realized. When speaking of discernment, we are essentially asking, “God, what’s the point of life and what’s our place in life?” Deep down we wonder, “Does God even speak or interact with us like in the Bible, and if so, how can we know it’s God and not just intuition?”

Many of us sit at the base camp of faith questioning if God even speaks at all in this day and age. Is there a voice to be heard in the push and shove of life?

I believe there is a voice. The Bible talks a great deal about us having ears to hear. I don’t think that is wasted text throughout the Old and New Testament. God is repeating a message to his people that clearly implies He’s most definitely speaking, and questioning if are we hearing?

“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you.

Mark 4:22-24 (ESV)

The Voices We Hear

Consider your day–the voices you hear, the noises you block out and those you let in, the songs on your playlist, the questions you hear, friends you listen to, the radio, podcasts, conferences, complaints, compliments, road-noise, requests at work or home, demands you fill, the alarm, the internal voices that repeat, white noise humming, distracting noises that frustrate, your phone or TV. Take time to pause and receive the sounds around you over the course of one day. What do you hear? Which sounds are most dominating? Which can you block out? Which comfort or distract? Are any of those messages from God?

I hope you take time to slow down and listen to your day because I believe it will reveal that discerning God’s voice can easily become drowned out by the various audio inputs that influence our daily lives. You may find we don’t register most of the common sounds we hear throughout the day and or ignore many of them (the voices that irritate us). This should awaken us to recognize that if we are blocking out most of what we hear automatically, we may very well be blocking any airwaves connected to the voice of God in the same filtering process.

Shuffling Through the Voices

After observing the sounds you encounter each day, its easier to see that the spiritual discernment process gets rather murky and clouded with subjective and personal interpretations, subliminal undercurrents from the voices playing throughout our day, and then gets layered upon by reason deduced from our personal preference of what is good, most desirable, easiest, or the highest reward. The process quickly whittles down without any input from God. We live our daily lives and make life decisions this way without missing a step. Most days we don’t stop to hear God or think about God unless we feel our control over life has been compromised, or we’ve hit rock bottom or things aren’t going our way and we need to blame someone. Then we stop to listen, maybe, or just get angry.

Perhaps discernment hasn’t crossed your mind, or even the idea of hearing from God. Maybe you are in a cycle of contentment taking whatever input comes into your psyche and then basing your decisions and actions on whatever feels right. The nature of the voices is of no consequence. This is the norm for most of us, but the past few months, the words “if anyone has ears to hear, let him/her hear” have been heavy on my mind. I think it’s ringing over and over in my mind with good reason and I shouldn’t ignore it.

Lately, I’ve heard and read statements that claim the western church is becoming more biblically illiterate. I am not sure how that is determined or measured, but it’s given me pause to wonder if it is somehow linked to our lack of hearing or listening to God through discernment. These statements suggest that we may be reading or hearing biblical messages (or not), and then responding with actions incongruent to biblical wisdom and text. This further nudged me to wonder if we (claimed followers of Christ) are heeding to God’s plea to have ears to hear with any effort or if we’ve tuned out completely?

If biblical illiteracy is possibly a reflection of not hearing, it might be one insight as to why God’s voice feels so distant and why we often seem confused or unsure of what is true, good, right or even biblical. It’s easy to get swayed by popular opinion, but sometimes there is a need to have spiritual clarity to know one’s faith and have a firm foundation. Discernment draws us toward seeing, hearing and knowing God’s heart thus lessening our doubts, insecurities, and giving us greater confidence within daily situations.

When we listen too long to misguided, wrong-intentioned voices and distracting noises we become confused as to what is a good, right and life-giving path. God speaks to us each uniquely, but his messages don’t contradict his word or nature. Discernment involves attuning our ears to God’s voice, but also knowing his word in our hearts, so being able to read it with literacy and understanding is invaluable and necessary in the process. (My heart is to explore the discernment process not to teach you how to read the Bible. I am not a Bible scholar and I am also growing in my knowledge of Bible interpretation and application. I have found The Bible Project a great resource on how to read the Bible. They have a new video series on just this topic that I highly encourage you to check it out below.

The Voice I Want to Hear

For centuries God’s been asking his children to listen. I can’t force anyone to hear the voice of God, but I can explore what it means to have ears to hear. I can admit that it’s time to drown out the messages distracting me and give attention to listening for God’s message. I confess I don’t have a direct phone line to God or have a magic key for the discernment door that reveals the mind of an infinite God, but I enjoy a good journey, an opportunity to grow, and am challenged to attune my ears to God’s voice so that he may supersede my personal wants, desires or answers. Perhaps you do too. If hearing God’s voice is an area in which you’d like to grow in the New Year, then I encourage you to engage alongside me as I explore the nature of spiritual discernment and getting to know the God who still speaks.

“So, my dear friends, listen carefully; those who embrace these my ways are most blessed. Mark a life of discipline and live wisely; don’t squander your precious life.“

Proverbs 8:32-33 Lady Wisdom (The Message)

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