Hearing Instead of Seeing — Morning Devotions

Subscribe to the ‘Morning Devotions’ podcast

Transcript

I was interested to read just recently about a huge survey held on the internet, which involved more than 1 million people worldwide. Quite a big survey. It was from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and they organised this survey to ask people how they felt about some truly horrible sounds. In other words, what are the most awful sounds that you’ve ever heard? Interesting question, isn’t it?

And some of the answers were a dentist’s drill, fingernails on a blackboard, a cat howling, and mobile phone ring tones, and it’s probably no surprise that the sound of someone vomiting was voted the most horrible sound in the world. It makes sense, doesn’t it? And other results were the sound of people arguing that was offensive, and children under 10 didn’t like the sound of the dentist drill, and men were particularly troubled by the sound of crying babies, more so than women.

So it’s true that sound plays a big part of our lives. You’re listening to me right now. Unless you have a hearing difficulty, we hear sounds all day and hopefully not at night when we go to bed, try to go to sleep.

But did you know that the Bible actually uses hearing rather than seeing as the primary image for how people came to know God?

And there are many verses in the Bible that refer to God speaking to people. Now our problem today is that we’re not really used to that image of the sound image. We’re visual rather than relying on sound. The world certainly is an incredibly noisy place, and noise can be distracting, can be very annoying, can’t it?

But people who’ve made a habit of listening for God find it very helpful to set aside some time during the day or to find a comfortable place for that purpose of waiting on God, waiting for Him. Now it does take a fair bit of effort to shut out the noise of the world, to sit or kneel before God – waiting for him.

A Little boy was attending church with his parents one Sunday morning. They had a children’s segment in the church, and he put up his hand and asked the minister, what does the voice of God sound like? It was a fair enough question, a very interesting question, and everyone in the church looked at the minister waiting for his answer because they were interested to know too. Well, he said, the voice of God sounds like your best friend, like someone you trust, someone you can really talk things over with.

The voice of God sounds like your mother or your father or your favourite babysitter when they comfort you because you’re having a bad dream in the night and you hear them next to your bed calling out, Everything’s OK. I’m right here beside you. Now that’s a simple illustration. I think it’s quite a good explanation.

Hope 103.2 is proudly supported by

Now there are many stories in the scriptures that tell us about people who’ve said to have heard the voice of God. Now, for example, Abraham heard God tell him to leave the land of his ancestors and to go to a land that God would show him. And later he heard God command him to sacrifice his son Isaac. An angel stopped him from taking the life of his son. Hagar heard God tell her that her son Ishmael was also heir to the promise and just like Isaac, he would be the ancestor of a great nation.

What about Moses? Yes, Moses heard the voice of God calling out in the midst of a burning bush. And in the very interesting story of Elijah, we’re told that the voice of God was not in the storm or the earthquake or the fire, but the voice of God was in the silence.

So you see for some people, they actually heard the voice of God. In an ordinary conversation when people are speaking, well, we speak and we listen, we wait for the response of that other person. Now it’s exactly the same with God. Once we’ve prepared ourselves, our hearts to listen through prayer, we’re more likely to hear the voice of God. And so the question is, does he speak to us through an audible voice? Well, some people say he does, but usually it’s not the case. We may not actually hear the voice of God.

But there are many ways that God actually speaks to us. Now, for example, one way is through the Bible, because the word of God, it says, of itself is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.

But of course, the best way to hear God is to establish a relationship with Jesus because Jesus says to us, I’ve been standing at the door and I’m knocking. If anyone hears me calling and opens the door, I will come into fellowship with Him.

Let’s Pray

Thank you, Lord, for that wonderful message. That we can hear you, and I pray this in the name of Jesus our saviour. Amen.

Feature image: CanvaPro