Tuning in to Hear God

Pastor Brady Boyd walked over to an old radio he had set up as a prop for his message.  After turning on the battery-powered machine he slowly moved the knob in search of stations within range.   The point he was making is that often we seek God’s voice but all we hear is static.  And so he asked a rhetorical question:  What keeps us from hearing God?

Brady believes three things can cause us to miss hearing God’s voice.
#1. Our resources.  When we have all the food, water, clothing and possessions we need we are less inclined to seek God’s voice or to hear Him when He speaks.
#2. Our competencies.  When life works well through our own strength, we don’t feel the need to tune in to God.
#3. Our busyness.  It stands to reason that when we fill up our time with work, relationships, activities etc., it is not hard to crowd God out.  
 
Meditation
Deuteronomy 13:4—You must follow the LORD your God and fear Him.  You must keep His commands and listen to His voice; you must worship Him and remain faithful to Him.
 
Moses taught his people the Israelites that God spoke to them from an amazing position of love.  The book of Exodus is our record of God speaking through Moses so as to liberate a nation of slaves from Egypt.  In order to set them up for success in the land of Canaan, Moses passed on His instruction as recorded in the above meditation.  

Fourteen centuries later, Jesus taught His followers, “My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).  Jesus was God’s human voice on earth.  As the Messiah He directly spoke so that all people might know the eternal love of His Father and find redemption for their sin.  When He departed He was followed by the Holy Spirit; the Voice given to guide us in following God.  The reality is that God’s voice has always been omnipresent!

Static is resolved by sincere commitment.   We will never effectively hear God’s voice if we are ambivalent towards following Him.  Tuning in to hear God is not just a recognition test, it is a compliance test. 

What makes life work?  What brings joy, peace and incredible meaning?  Nothing the world offers can answer those two questions. The secret of tuning in is answered by finding the right frequency.  That quest always comes from the heart.  “But from there, you will search for the LORD your God, and you will find Him when you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul” (Deu. 4:29). 
 
Inspiration
When I am tempted to complain about God’s lack of presence, I remind myself that God has much more reason to complain about my lack of presence.  I reserve a few minutes a day for God, but how many times do I drown out or ignore the quiet voice that speaks to my conscience and my life? —Philip Yancy in Prayer Does It Make Any Difference?
 
©2015 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)