Last night at the youth group at our church that I volunteer at, we had a guest speaker named Jason Maupin. He spoke about noise. Specifically, the noise in our lives that can drown out the voice of God, such as social media. Sometimes, to hear the Lord speak, there first has to be silence.
Have you ever heard the voice of God? I have. Not an actual audible voice, but the Lord has spoken to me many times. Sometimes, life is so busy that I feel like I haven't heard God speak to me in a while. I feel distant from Him and might even wonder where He is. But I know that God is always there with me. God is always speaking to me, I just have to listen.
Occasionally, a person that I know or am acquainted with but am not close to will pop into my head. For no reason, their name or face will just come into my thoughts at a random time. Or I'll be out shopping and see someone I know and then I'll see them again at random places 2 or 3 more times that same week, even though I haven't seen them in a long time otherwise. I could just shrug this off. I could be so occupied with my own life that I don't even realize that either of these things has happened. But if I would just stop for a moment, maybe I'd recognize that this person has been put in my thoughts for a reason. Maybe God wants me to pray for this person or reach out to them. Maybe God wants me to invite this person to church or fill a need they may have. It may seem so small or irrelevant to me, but when God speaks to me, it's definitely no small matter.
Sometimes I get an overwhelming urge to pay for the person behind me in a drive-thru. I can pretty quickly recognize that this desire is not my own, because honestly, giving my money away to someone I don't even know is not my first priority! Obviously, God placed that urge in my heart and you better believe I listen and obey. Maybe the person behind me at McDonald's is just trying to get enough food off the dollar menu to feed their hungry children. How sad would it be if I was too busy with my own life to listen to what the Lord was asking me to do, which is the simple task of just paying for the hungry family behind me?
It may feel like God isn't speaking to you. It may feel like He's not with you during the day, during either your trials or your achievements. But I can assure you, He's there! You just need to turn down the noise in your life, all the voices that don't matter, and listen to Him.
When Jason spoke last night, he made the point that when you talk to God, He really listens to you. He bends down right next to you and listens to what you have to say. Whether you're asking for something, telling Him how hurt you are or rejoicing in something great that's happened, He's paying attention to what you have to say. Nothing you tell Him is too small for him to care about. God is so big & so mighty but He cares about the small details of your life. And He has a plan for you if you're willing to listen to Him.
I often ask God to speak to me when I need an answer for something specific. I continue to pray until I get an answer, even if it's not what I wanted to hear. I ask God to either open or shut doors in my life so that I can better understand His will. A passage of scripture may pop into my mind and when I go read it, it's exactly what I needed to read. God speaks to me even when I'm not specifically asking Him to, like when I feel like I need to post a certain verse on Facebook so that the right person can read it and be encouraged by it. I bet if I spent more time in silence and quieted all the nonsense noise in my life, I would see that God speaks to me even more than I realize.
What is God trying to say to you? God is listening. Are You?
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