One of the questions I am asked very often is, “How can I hear God’s voice?” The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 that God has a good plan for your life. But how do we hear God’s voice to follow the steps of that plan for our life?
When I was about 9 years old, my Dad came home from work carrying a record player. He plugged it into the electric socket then we had to wait for the thing to ‘warm up’. This machine had valves. Eventually he put a vinyl record on and we sat amazed as the sound came out of the speaker. It was just one speaker in mono sound.
Sometime later my elder brother started work and saved up for something called a ‘stereo system’. My Dad didn’t like the sound of it because it had two speakers instead of one - which he could only assume, was to make more noise. Only when he heard the stereo effect – as though the musicians were in the room with him, did he fully appreciate the wonders of stereo sound.
One of my pastimes is watching movies. But I often get distracted at the cinema by people talking, mobile phones and rustling sweet wrappers. So, a while ago, I bought a surround sound system so I could watch movies at home but with cinema sound. I like it because it draws me into the action on the screen.
One of the problems that keeps us from hearing God’s voice today is the constant noise we are surrounded by. It draws us into the world and away from God. One of my pet hates is background music in shopping centres. It seems almost a sin in the modern world to allow for any silence.
If we are ever to hear God’s voice, we will have to switch off our surround sound and listen to God’s surround sound.
Now we have to be careful when we say God has spoken to us. The Yorkshire Ripper said God told him to murder his victims. But this is not true – God says ‘You shall not murder’ and he doesn’t contradict himself. God will never contradict his word in the Bible.
Before I became a Christian, I was riding on the top deck of a bus through Salford near Manchester. I had been thinking about becoming a Christian but hadn’t really done anything about it. The bus passed by a church. Outside was a large poster with a scripture on it. It read:
“Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.”
Isaiah 55:6
My friend mocked it and read it out loud. As he spoke, my heart pounded. It felt like God himself was telling not to delay! Even in the mouth of an unbeliever, the word of God was powerful. It was shortly after that incident I went to church and found Jesus.
When Hazel and I first got married, we lived in a rented flat in Manchester’s notorious Whalley Range area, the red light district. Our nights became interrupted with joy riders and fire starters. Night after night they would set the empty house opposite us on fire, or just phone the fire brigade to say it was on fire. Either way, our sleep would be disturbed in the early hours. Other nights neighbours would have all night parties and teenagers would be outside the window all night being rowdy.
One time, I prayed all night that God would bring silence. I was disappointed that nothing happened and the noise continued. As we went to church next morning, I was angry with God and thought he didn’t care. Our friend Gordon stood up to read a passage from the Old Testament. My jaw hit the floor as I heard him say,
“And I will provide a place for my people … and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them any more, as they did at the beginning”
1 Chronicles 17:9
Shortly afterwards we moved to our own home in a very quiet street!
(There are more examples of how God has spoken to me on my podcast at www.doneganpodcast.co.uk)
The Bible says:
“You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah”
Psalms 32:7
It is often when trouble comes that we need to hear God’s voice. God is our hiding place from trouble. And his surround sound is ‘songs of deliverance’. As we begin to worship God in song, we switch on his surround sound and our deliverance begins.
“Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.”
Psalms 32:10
God also surrounds us with mercy. In my experience, over the last fifty years, God often comes to me in mercy. I am so glad he comes in mercy and every day his mercies are renewed. I’m glad because I used all yesterdays up!
“Through the LORD’S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22 – 23
If you really want to hear God in your life, I set you a challenge for the net 30 days:
1. Get a notebook and a Bible.
2. The book of Proverbs has 31 chapters. Each day read the chapter that matches the date – if it’s the 7th of the month, read chapter 7 and so on.
As you read it, jot down any thought that come into your mind. If this was God’s personal letter to you, what issues is he addressing in your life?
3. Read a few verses from Mark’s gospel. His was the first gospel to be written and the shortest, but it’s a powerful book. As you read the account of Jesus life. What is God saying to you? If you find yourself writing in the first person – ‘My child, I love you….” – go with it and see what you write.
4. After 30 days review your notes. What do you think God is saying t you. Is there a recurring theme or a challenge to action?
What about doing this for another 30 days or better still making it part of your daily routine? If you think you don’t have time to do this, here’s a tip: look round the back of your TV. You’ll see a wire going to a socket in the wall. When you find the socket, pull the plug out. You TV will go off. You just created time!
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Listen to Don online - www.doneganpodcast.co.uk
