Do you ever worry you can’t hear God’s voice?

That you won’t be able to, because there are these things.  Noise.  News that’s always tantamount to global disaster.  Work email in volume you could swim in.  To do lists and home projects that constantly grow, because other things come up.  Kids with sports and projects and get togethers.  Constant whirlwinds in jobs and moving schedules, and family and friends, and well, being needed.  Being human.  If God came in the still, small voice like He did for Elijah (1 Kings 19:12), would we miss Him?

I’m worried I would.  When I pray and pray and ask and pray and God seems silent, I wonder if there’s some problem.  Like I’m not tuned in enough, not silent enough.  Not really listening.  That I can’t possibly hear His voice, His plan, His will because there are so many demands in my life.  Like I’m not the right medium, and God will somehow pass me by.  With no answer.  Even when I’m trying.

Last week, Isaiah woke me close to midnight and said he had a dream.  We were playing basketball and he was playing on a bridge nearby.  He said the bridge broke and he fell in the water and kept going.  He looked crestfallen.  I asked if I caught him.

“No, Mama.  I just kept going and going.”

“And you didn’t get back to me?”

“No.  You weren’t there, and it was scary.”  He’s crushed.

“Baby.  I would never, ever let that happen.  I would always, always be there to get you.  And would never let you fall in and get away from me.  My love will find you wherever  you are.”

There it is.  God’s voice.  In the still, smallest voice of a downcast child.

“If (we) then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to (our) children, how much more will (our) Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”  (Matthew 7:11 ESV)

God is here.  Listening.  And always, always Was and Is and ever shall Be there to be with us.  To love us and save us.  His Love will find us wherever we are.

The Bible tells us that, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” (Luke 5:16 NIV)  It’s important to get our time in with Father.  To be in His presence, and focused on Him alone.  To speak to Him, and hear from Him.  It allows us to grow.  And for me, it sets the tone of my day.  When I’m filled with Him, I tend to spill better Words and Spirit than what I can naturally offer.  (Ha!)

How often we get irritated when our plans are messed up.  When people need us, and life gets busy and our flow gets interrupted, and we go without all those things we think we “need” to live securely and peacefully.

I can’t help but laugh at the picture of Jesus in the gospels.  The people, they follow Him.  Wherever.  He.  Goes.  And He keeps withdrawing (Matthew 14:13), “early in the morning” (Mark 1:35) or “late at night” (Matthew 14:23).  But the people, they find Him, and follow Him, and need from Him.  And I know our Messiah knows what a mother of young children… what I, feel like.  With need presenting itself at 2 AM, asking for a drink of water.  Following you around the house, mussing up your work and traipsing along into the bathroom, where you’re wanting to lock yourself in for a moment of peace.

If He is sovereign over the details, then the clearest voices of God’s will in our lives are the ones right in front of us.  Our coworker asking for a lift, a friend needing someone to listen, a stranger asking for a few dollars for lunch.  Our children asking for a cup of water, a tissue, to “Play with me, Daddy!”  Our significant other needing a loving hand, rather than a ranting lecture.

God has presented Himself in all of these needs!  We’re not missing hearing from Him, if you’re open to listening.  “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” (Matthew 10:42 NIV)  “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”  (Matthew 25:40 NIV)

Let’s not give into the temptation that we can’t be used.  That we are not enough.  That because of life we can’t possibly hear His voice, His plan, His will and that He will somehow pass us by.  If we are willing vessels, His voice is everywhere.  And if we need to hear Him loud and clear, then He will speak.  Loud and clear.  We won’t miss Him.

God is here.  In every detail.  Listening.  And loving and speaking.  He always, always Was and Is and ever shall Be there with us.  To love us and save us.  His Love will find us wherever we are.