Listening for God’s Voice

 By Andrea Merrell

Then the cares and anxieties of the world 

and distractions of the age, 

and the pleasure and delight and false glamour 

and deceitfulness of riches, 

and the craving and passionate desire for other things 

creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, 

and it becomes fruitless.

Mark 4:19 AMPC

My husband says I’m hard of hearing. The audiologist says I have excellent hearing. How can this be?

A hearing test always produces very positive results. I can hear the tiniest noises that others can’t always hear. So why is it that my husband so often has to repeat himself when we’re talking?

For some reason, whenever there’s background noise—TV, radio, fan, water running, wind, or any type of machinery—I have a hard time distinguishing voices and conversation. It’s very annoying, both to me and the person who has to repeat himself. I have to remind myself to listen carefully.

I’ve found that in our Christian walk, we can have the same problem distinguishing God’s voice above the cacophony of the world. The Bible calls it the distractions of the age. We’re pulled in so many directions with so many voices calling to us that it’s easy to allow the cares and anxieties of the world  to come in and choke out God's Word and silence His voice. Again, this is where I have to remind myself to listen carefully. 

God’s desire is to lead and guide us throughout each and every day. He speaks to us in many different ways, but it’s up to us to tune our ear to listen. Just like adjusting the volume on our radio or TV, we can turn down the voices of the world that are clamoring for our attention, and allow God’s voice to be heard loud and clear.

God is speaking. Are you listening?

(Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Ohmega1982.)

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