Hearing God's Voice

Do You Hear It?

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

John 10:27

 

My father- and mother-in-law gave us an Amish-crafted, beautiful cherrywood dining table for our wedding.  It was the first thing of real value that we owned as a couple, and we cherished it.

After many years of living in Europe, it was time to buy new living room furniture, and a modern Italian designer sofa found its place in our home…right next to our table.  But, whoa, side-by-side, those 2 eras of furniture practically smacked each other in the face.  I dealt with the clash for as long as I could (easily 2 whole weeks).  Steve gave in, and we ordered a modern dining room table to bring the peace back to our home.

So our treasured cherry table now sat under sheets in the basement of our house.  Until one day when we met a couple whose love of God is so deep and wide it made me question if I was, in fact, ever actually a Christian myself…

And God clearly told me:  Give them your table.

I didn’t even know if they needed a table, but in obedience, we made them the offer.  With a resounding “Yes!”, they were incredibly excited and grateful.  However, the Father seemingly ignored a few glaring details when He put our plan into motion.  This couple was still saving to get married and then live together, they had no place to temporarily put a table and no means to get it from us once they did.  So, in our basement, it continued to sit.

When we learned our time in Europe was nearly over, I contacted our friends to let them know we’d need to find an answer for this furniture soon.  Without a hint of concern, they said, “OK, God will make a way for us.”

I should’t have been surprised when, in no time, the storage issue was solved.  A sweet, humble pastor from Africa offered his basement.  However, his home is out on the country side and that table wasn’t going to roll itself to his doorstep.  God told Steve to ask a friend who has a big van and a big heart for ministry, if he could help us with the transport.  Despite being an incredibly busy man, he immediately replied, “YES & When?”.

On the day he arrived for the move, he informed me that the autobahn on our planned route was currently a parking lot and we’d need to take a significant detour to find this village.

Now, I’m no geography genius, but, as I followed, I was pretty sure he led us directly to the exact highway he’d just told me we’d be avoiding – and it was, in fact, wall to wall cars.  But I stuck following closely behind as he snaked between trucks with surprisingly little delay.

When we arrived, he smiled as he told me, “God is so good with the details”.  The radio traffic advisory said “DO NOT TAKE THE AUTOBAHN”,  his navigation said “DO NOT TAKE THE AUTOBAHN”, yet when he asked God, He clearly said “TAKE THE AUTOBAHN”.  It saved us 45 minutes drive time.

A table crafted in New Wilmington, PA now sits in a farm house in the tiniest village of Petershausen, Bavaria.  It’s (once again) a wedding present.  There are 2 precious people who will treasure it for decades to come as a symbol of God’s faithfulness to them and the promise of their coming marriage.  It’s from a Father who knows what we need, when we need it, and He’ll make a way – for even a dining room – where their seems to be no way.

What happened here is just a handful of players who heard the Father speak and said a simple, “Yes”.

I have people ask all the time “How do you hear from God so easily?”.  Honestly, what I want to say is, “How DON’T you?  I can’t seem to turn Him off.”

The truth is that you hear from Him too.  I promise you do.  And I can prove it with a simple exercise.

God says, Call to Me, and I will answer you.  And I will show you great and wonderful things which you do not know.  Jeremiah 33:3  So let’s go ahead and call

(Be honest, you’ve taken quizzes on social media to find out what Disney character you are.  You can take an old-school 5-minute quiz to see if you can actually hear from God…)

Choose from ONE of the pictures below or grab a magazine and find a picture of absolutely anything that speaks to you.  It can be in an advertisement, an article, whatever you like.

Now take a serious moment and really ask yourself these 5 points about your photo, writing down your answers:

  1. Why did I pick this picture?

  2. How does this picture make me feel?

  3. Give it a title.

  4. What does this picture have to do with me?

  5. What is God saying to me through this picture?

When you’ve finished, take a moment and think about what just happened.

In a simple, purposeful, and planned way you, my friend, just had a conversation with God.  Making a decision to sit down and devote nothing more than a few minutes to TRY and listen – it’s all it took.  And He was absolutely there waiting with something to tell you.  Maybe it felt simple.  Maybe it felt uncomfortable.  But what did He show you about yourself?  Look no further than question #5.

It’s a small exchange that can easily feel insignificant, which is precisely the reason most people have no idea how to distinguish God speaking to them through the Holy Spirit vs. their own controlled thoughts.

The Process is beautifully natural:

  • The way to refine our hearing is by responding to what we’ve heard.
  • The response causes change.
  • That change convinces us to listen again.
  • When we listen again, we get better at hearing.
  • And the better we get at hearing the more we DEPEND on knowing God’s voice.

Soon enough, Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21

What is the Lord saying to you today?  Can you hear it?  Are you listening?  Have you asked?  Because you have a dining room table equivalent in your life that needs some help arriving at its destination.   And I’m thinking that today feels like a great day for the autobahn.

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  • sharlacrm April 6, 2015 at 3:45 pm

    Simply delightful post! I can use it for our Cleansing Stream group tonight!–That example with the pictures was amazing!
    Thanks Heather!