Through the Clutter

"As she pulled up her stockings absentmindedly and ruffled the hem of her dress the cry of the baby startled her.  It was at this time Sonica realised the child was wailing for a while despite her 14 year old sister's attempt at comforting her. Sonica had been in the faith for over 5 years but couldn't see any growth in her personal or spiritual life. The urge she felt when she just came to Christ had long died and she felt as though nothing was left or worth holding to. She was hardly going to church since she conceived a year ago with her last child. Her husband was a drunkard and situations at home weren't getting any better. She was basically jobless and only doing odd jobs occasionally to take care of her 3 children. Having no formal education meant her employability was drastically low in the mid recession. She cried to God night and day but for some reason she wasn't hearing from him. As the days go by things worsened. Sonica's faith slowly dying because the clutter of the world and it's distractions were too much for her to hear God's voice".

How often do we see people fall from the church simple because they cannot hear God? Many struggle with hearing God's voice contrary to his words that his sheep knows his voice in John 10:27.

Hearing from God is what every believer desires to know they are operating according to God's will. However, we tend to look for God in ways and places defined by us. Too often we are so focused on our circumstances that we can't see God or hear him through all the noise of the world. The noise of the world can be deafening my friends, shutting out the sound of God. We are faced with so many decisions on a daily basis if we are not careful we miss God.  However, as children of the most high God, I believe God is always speaking to us. He never stops guiding us along our journey.  He promises us in Deuteronomy 31:6 never to leave us nor forsake us.

Hearing from God becomes clearer when we subject to his will and not try to lean to our own ways (Proverbs 3:5-6). Too often the answers we seek are before us; unfortunately, they are not always in accordance with our ideas so it does not appear to be from God. I personally have had situations where God's voice was crispy clear yet I failed to hear him because the response was not to my liking and only after things escalated I saw what God was saying from the inception. Therefore, I am of the belief that the question shouldn't be whether God is speaking to us but should rather be are we tuned in to hear him?  We must first stop looking for God in the arenas we place him in. Stop listening for a loud extravagant response and pay attention to the simple whisper amid the noise. God seeks to lead us through paths of victory but we are so focused on the bleak atmosphere we can't hear him telling us to be not afraid and trust him (Joshua 1:9). The next time you struggle to hear God ask yourself these simple questions:

• Am I truly relying on God for an answer or do I already have what I want the response to be?
• Am I willing to follow God's lead or does it depend on the response?
• Am I tuned in to hear God speak?
• Am I looking in only a particular direction or am I scanning the entire field for his response? 
• Have I allowed God adequate opportunity to speak or am I doing all the talking?
• Am I plugged in to the source and adequately spending time in his words?

When you have honestly answered these questions then and only then I believe you will be able to hear from God. There were moments when I struggled to hear from God, not realising I was shutting him out in more ways than one. Hearing from God will not always be through a clear voice as when someone speaks during a conversation as we have seen in the bible on some occasions. God has given us his words with all the answers we seek in this life here on earth and it is through these words that he speaks the loudest to us. Learn to spend time in his words and trust him, then you will see that there is never a moment God is silent.