Close your eyes for a moment, quiet your mind,
Push out all distractions.
Now imagine you’re standing by a still, quiet lake.
Take a deep breath, listen to the gentle whoosh of the wind and the ruffling of the leaves.
Be still. Be quiet. Focus, listen…
Did you do that short exercise?
God is always trying to communicate with us, but often, His voice gets drowned in all the noise in our heads and in our world.
So to hear him, sometimes we need to do such intentional noise blocking exercises to quiet our minds and focus on his voice.
One way God loves to communicate with us is through the still small voice… quiet whispers, gentle whispers some versions of the Bible put it.
““After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””
1 Kings 19:11b-13 NLT
A quiet whisper is God’s spirit communicating with your spirit. It’s a form of communication that doesn’t necessarily involve a sound.
Take for example, if you are in a close relationship with a person, if you’ve known each other for a long time, you can communicate with that person with just one look. I just need to look at my husband’s face sometimes to know what’s going on in his mind. This is the closest illustration I can use to explain the quiet whispers of God.
It’s a communication between two spirits. Your spirit and God’s spirit. You don’t hear an audible voice but it’s almost as if the words were deposited in your spirit and you understand exactly what He’s saying.
Hearing God’s quiet whispers comes from a place of intimacy.
Since the beginning of this series on hearing God’s voice a common theme through all our articles and conversations is intimacy with God. You can’t communicate on a deep level with someone you do not have a close relationship with.
So again, if you are yearning to hear God’s voice, you must build a relationship with him. Through prayer, studying his word and fellowship with other believers you can do this.
In a very common Bible story, Jesus was on the boat with his disciples and there was a violent storm. It was almost tearing their boat apart and they ran to Jesus for help, he awoke and spoke peace to the storm and the waters became still.
Sometimes the violent storms in our lives prevent us from hearing his quiet whispers.
Are there raging storms in your life today that won’t let you hear God’s whispers? The devastating circumstances we face that threaten our sanity and steal our peace; loss, sickness, pain, death, suffering, and the list goes on.
I speak to your soul today;
Peace, be still. Be still.
May the raging storms be stilled and may you be wrapped in the embrace of God . And as you listen to his quiet whispers, I pray you find comfort, strength and revival.
Amen.