Isaiah 55.3

3 Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
    my faithful love promised to David.

Isaiah 55 begins with a call to come to God as those who are thirsty and hungry.  Receiving water and food at no cost.  Calling us to come to him.  To come and listen.  Receiving life as we hear him speaking to us.

When we start in seminary to prepare for ministry we take some psychological tests.  Either to weed out those how are not sane enough to handle it, or weed out the saner ones to protect them.  One of the questions we get asked on a test for that is do we think we hear God speaking to us.  Answering yes is a sign of psychosis.  Answering no seems like we are not qualified for ministry.  We accept the label of “out of our mind”. (2 Corinthians 5.13)

It looks hard for us to hear God.  Not just because saying we hear God speak to us sounds crazy to others.  Because so many other voices get in the way.  The voices of social media with wild ideas of what is true.  Conspiracy theories spread as news.  Polarization in politics and all of society.  People shouting so many contradicting ideas.  We miss the voice of God.

We might think the voice of God comes loudly over all the other voices.  Yet, often it comes as it did to Elijah, the still small voice, the whisper.  We need to quiet our minds and our surroundings.  Not because God’s voice is weak or distant.  Because it needs to be the one voice we hear, with no other voice or sound in the way.  We distort the sound of his voice to get what we want, or it is distorted by the world to make us think it is different than it is.

God gives us a voice to follow.  He gives us his words to hear and see.  As we spend time in prayer, spend time listening.  Not just our monologue of what we think God needs to know and what he needs to do.  A time where we hear him speak words of life, comfort and hope.  Calling us to him to be his people.  Listen to the voice of God as we pray.

Prayer

Holy God, we hear your call to come to you.  Speak to us as we come into your presence.  Make your voice be the one we hear as we take these moments of silence today to hear you.  (Take time to silently listen to God)

Thank-you for giving us your words in life today.  We rest in your grace, given in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Song – Ancient Words

Comments for this post are now off.