Listening to that Still, Small Voice

Listening to that Still, Small Voice


Introduction: Let’s, just for a moment, look at scripture from Luke 5:1-3. “One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.” Okay, now Jesus is in a boat “preaching” to a “great crowd”. Did you ever stop to think about how they all heard him? I think I would be correct in saying that this was before mikes and amplifiers. And not even a “jumbotron”. Now today many preachers really raise their voices when preaching and especially when emphasizing a point. And the ones that don’t have great sound systems to reach the crowds. How many of you think that Jesus was a “loud” preacher? My opinion is that He never raised His voice. I think that he just talked to the people in a kind, soft voice. I can’t prove this from scripture so this is just “Haywardology”. But, back to point I want to make – how did all these people hear Jesus? Do you think it is possible that the Holy Spirit may have played a part in this? Hmmm.

Okay, on to lesson:

Following God can sometimes appear to be confusing.

Because sometimes, he tells us in big, bold, you-can’t-miss messages what it is he’s doing and how he wants us to follow him or where he wants us to go next. Sometimes it’s just incredibly, refreshingly, undoubtedly obvious. Psalms 29:4 tells us that “The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic.”.

But then there are those times when you pray and you pray and you just don’t know what he wants you to do next or whether he’s speaking to you. When you try everything you can think of to hear what he’s saying to you, and the line just continues to be silent. However we can be assured He hears based on what Apostle John tells us, “….we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.” (1 John 5:14-15).

There are times in our life when we feel absolutely certain that we know exactly what God was telling us to do. When Scripture lined up with our heart’s desire, when we were overwhelmed by an only-from-God sense of peace about a decision, when words of confirmation came raining down on us in every direction. Paul writes in his letter to the church at Corinth that “God is not a God of disorder (confusion) but of peace…”. (1 Corinthians 14:33a) We need to remember that God does not try to confuse us. Most of our “confusion” or disorder comes from us because we are not good at listening.

Yet, those times, when it almost seems like God had a bullhorn he was using to keep our attention, are exceedingly rare, especially the longer and further we go in our faith.

In the Old Testament we’re introduced to the idea that God exists not in the wind or the earthquake or the fire but instead in a quiet whisper. God told Elijah, “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the LORD told him. And as Elijah stood there, the LORD passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 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. (1 Kings 19:11-12) The KJV Bible translates this as “a still small voice.”

There’s a comfort in this, that even when God isn’t banging on a drum or blasting a trumpet in our ear, he’s still reaching out and leading and guiding us. He’s still speaking to us and beckoning us, it’s just with a more subtle approach. Sometimes, he’s just waiting for us to stop, listen and—this can almost be the hardest part—trust that still, small voice.

Because with such a still, small voice, sometimes it isn’t clear or obvious that what we’re hearing or thinking is from God. What if it’s from me? Even worse, what if it’s from Satan?

Fortunately, though, Jesus tells us that “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. (John 10:27-29)

Through much of Scripture, we see this assurance that, like the psalmist wrote, “You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.” (Psalm 73:24)

Sometimes we just have to trust that if we are following God and obeying him and loving him and reaping the fruits of the Spirit, that he is guiding us and speaking to us—even when all we’re getting is the faintest whisper and an inkling of what to do next.

For many of us, it’s a matter of taking the Lord at his Word—literally, trusting that these things he’s said in Scripture are true—and then taking the step to be “faithful with little,” like we see in the parable of the talents (Luke 19).

What this means is that when some vague idea to serve Him or to follow Him or to reach out and show love to another comes to mind—assuming it is not violating Scripture or the fruits of the Spirit—then we choose to trust that it is from the Lord and take a step in faith to pursue it.

For instance, have any of you ever had a “feeling” that you needed to call someone maybe you haven’t spoken with in some time, maybe send a FB message encouraging a friend (maybe not a close friend, just a casual one), maybe said a kind word to a stranger. etc. Maybe you just feel the need to lift up someone in prayer. Now these are simple but important.

When we do these things, we may never know if our action had any effect on this person. But that’s not really the point.

The point is that we choose to credit the idea to the Lord and to take it as an opportunity to, in one tiny way, follow and obey him. Because, as he said while he was here on earth, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me.” (John 14:23-24)

So in this instance—and many others—where we have a vague notion of serving Him in some—often seemingly random—way but we’re not certain whether it’s truly from the Holy Spirit, we can make the choice to trust that it is.

This can be our attempt to be “faithful with little”—and trust the rest to Him.