“…there was silence, then I heard a voice…” Job 4:16 (ESV)
John 10:27
Perhaps Creator is waiting in the very depths of my being to speak to me, if only I would become still enough to hear His voice. It sounds like a relatively simple thought. An easy concept to go with. A very searching thought. I often assume that if God wishes to speak, He will simply overwhelm me with His presence. Yet as I struggle in my mess to hear His Voice, I see how that throughout Scripture we find something quite different. Again and again Creator calls His people to quietness, attentiveness, and trust. I am realizing now that my problem is seldom that Jesus has stopped speaking. More often, than not, it is that my stony heart has become far too crowded crowded to listen. Kind of like when Joseph and Mary were told “there is no room at the Inn for Jesus. My heart gets so crowded, that it becomes a prison. And I become it’s slave.
I couldn’t help but notice that as soon as I began to quiet myself and listen, a literal pandemonium of voices arose within me, each clamoring for the attention it believed it deserved. Some were my own voices. My personal life questions, my fears, my memories, my endless analyses. Trying to come up with reasons why Creator God could or couldn’t do the endless barrage of my petitions to Him. My prayers, would be repeated so urgently that I scarcely left room for God to answer them. Others carried the subtle suggestions of the tempter, whispering doubt, accusation, anxiety, or despair. Still others echoed the world’s constant turmoil: its demands, its fears, its endless stream of opinions and distractions.
The unrest these voices produce is exhausting. They pull me in opposite directions until I find it too difficult to rest. Too hard to think clearly. Impossible to discern the next faithful step that Jesus wanted me to take. Instead of peace there is often confusion. Instead of confidence there is pressure. My soul became like the troubled sea that “cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt” (Isaiah 57:20).
Yet, in the midst of the toss and turmoil of my times of wandering, Creator is wonderfully patient. Jesus is always there. Jesus will never leave nor forsake me. But Jesus does not usually compete with the noise. Jesus will wait. Our Lord of glory, our personal Savior can be seen waiting just for me. Just for you. As I slowly, sometimes very stubbornly learn to “be still,” there emerges from the depths of my being a Voice unlike all the others. The Voice of Jesus does not shout at me. The Voice of Jesus does not try to manipulate me. The Voice of Jesus does not accuse me. The Voice of Jesus does not demand my attention through fear. The Voice of Jesus does not ever use F.alse E.vidence A.ppearing R.eal. The Voice of Jesus carries an authority that requires no volume. The Voice of Jesus comes with a certainty that never needs argument.
The Voice of Jesus is in verity, the still, small Voice spoken of in the Bible. The Voice of Jesus is that still small Voice that speaks to my soul. My innermost being. The Bible reminds us that the prophet Elijah did not encounter the Lord in the great wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in “a quiet, gentle voice.” (1 Kings 19:12, ERV).
Elijah knew that the sound of a gentle whisper was God’s voice. He realized that God doesn’t reveal himself only in powerful, miraculous ways. To look for God only in something big (such as rallies, churches, conferences, highly visible leaders, or special books) may be just how to miss Him because Creator is often found gently whispering in the quietness of a humbled heart. Are you listening for God? Step back from the noise and activity of your busy life and listen humbly and quietly for his guidance. It may come when you least expect it.
God’s strength is not absent from dramatic displays, yet in some cases His personal communication comes through a quiet, gentle stillness. The One who spoke galaxies into existence also knows how to speak softly enough for my listening heart.
What surprises me most is not simply that God speaks so clearly, but how He speaks. In The Voice of our Lord of glory, there is an indescribable tenderness. This tenderness is not weakness. The Voice of God is the gentle strength of the Shepherd who gathers lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart (Isaiah 40:11). The Voice of God is the compassion of Jesus who looks upon weary and burdened people and invites them to, “Come unto me…and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The Voice of God is the kindness of the Father who remembers that we are but dust (Psalm 103:13-14).
In God’s Voice, there is unmistakable power. Not the power that crushes, intimidates, or dominates, but the quiet authority that speaks light into darkness and peace into troubled hearts. One word from “the Christ” calmed a raging sea. One word from “the Christ” raised the dead. One word from “the Christ” forgave sinners. The same risen Lord still speaks with life giving authority. As we are told: “…the word of God is living and active…” (Hebrews 4:12). His voice reaches places that no human reasoning or emotional effort can ever reach.
When I hear God’s Voice, there is a profound comfort.
Not merely relief from difficult circumstances, but the deep assurance that I was not facing them alone. Jesus did promise His followers, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). The Holy Spirit, whom Jesus called “another Comforter” or Advocate (John 14:16-17, 26), ministers that peace within us, reminding us that we belong to Christ and that nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39).
This tenderness, power, and comfort could never arise from human optimism or positive thinking. No “cognitive therapy,” or “behavior modification” needed. These three things: tenderness, power, and comfort, all flow from the living presence of the risen Christ dwelling by His Spirit within His people. The The Voice of Christ reaches beyond our emotions into the deepest places of the heart. Where fear slowly gives way to trust. Where striving begins to surrender to faith.
This is how my spirit drinks in the life of our risen Lord. This is how I go forth to life’s conflicts, disappointments, responsibilities, and joys like a flower that has quietly absorbed, through the shades of night, the cool and crystal drops of morning dew. Hidden from the world’s attention, nourishment has already taken place. Strength has already been given. Life has already been received. The flower does not manufacture the dew. It simply receives it. And we are told that when we receive Jesus, He will give us power to be, or to become “the sons and daughters of God.” (John 1:12)
So it is with grace. But just as the morning dew never settles on a stormy night, so the refreshing dews of our Creator’s grace seldom settle upon the restless, hurried, distracted soul. Yes, God is always gracious, yet we often become so occupied with the noise around us, and within us that we fail to notice the quiet ways He comes to refresh His children.
The invitation remains as relevant today as ever: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Quietness is not an escape from life but preparation for it. It is not passivity but thoughtful faith. In stillness we discover that the Shepherd has never stopped speaking. We simply learn, little by little, to recognize our Shepherd’s voice.
Perhaps today Creator is not asking us to do more, strive harder, or search farther? Perhaps He is simply inviting us to become still enough, long enough to hear Him clearly.
Jesus assures us: “I am the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” “I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep.” {DA 476.1}
Here, Jesus found access to the minds of His hearers by the pathway of their familiar associations. Jesus had likened the Spirit’s influence to the cool, refreshing water. Jesus had represented Himself as the light, the source of life and gladness to nature and to man. Now in a beautiful pastoral picture Jesus represents His relation to those that believe on Him. No picture was more familiar to His hearers than this, and Christ’s words linked it forever with Himself. Never could the disciples look on the shepherds tending their flocks without recalling the Savior’s lesson. They would see Christ in each faithful shepherd. They would see themselves in each helpless and dependent flock. {DA 476.2}
“For His sheep know His voice, and they follow Him because they recognize the One who speaks life to their souls.” (John 10:27).
