Are You Listening?
- Oct 24, 2025
- 6 min read
If I asked you to describe God, to sum up His attributes, nature and His character, what would you say? I guess we might say God is almighty, a faithful God, a holy God; He’s our Father, He’s love, He’s righteous, a God of justice, a God of grace. And all those are true and right, and there’s so much more, but very rarely will someone say He’s a God who speaks!
I know this is fundamental, but in order to know God better we need to have hearts and ears that are ready to listen and to hear His voice.
Romans 10:17: “Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”
We continue in our series of ‘Knowing God better'.
The truth is, God speaks to us all the time on a daily basis, but due to our busy, noisy and unsettled hearts, minds and schedules, we don’t get to hear Him and we sometimes end up going in the wrong direction and making wrong decisions.
You may be wondering, How does God speak?… What does His voice sound like?… Do you need supernatural ears to hear God?
I like what RT Kendall says: "I live to hear directly from God. I will take any word from Him I can get, however He might be pleased to send it; whether via Scripture, another person’s insights, a hymn or even an audible voice. Yes, an audible voice; not that you could hear it if you were in the same room, but clearly audible to me. I live for insight, thoughts and interpretations of God’s word I’d never seen before. I’m in highest realm of ecstasy when this happens!"
I may be stating the obvious here, we have a Father God that longs to speak and communicate His desires, His plans, His blessings, and so much more to us. Are you listening?
Just pause for a moment and worship Him
God can use anything to communicate to a person who is ready to hear and listen.
You will notice in the Bible God uses many ways to speak to us, like talking animals, a flaming bush, angels, visions, that “still small voice.” God speaks to all of mankind through creation (Rom 1:18-20), but on a personal level, God will often speak through a friend or leader; through His Word (2 Tim 3:16); directly into our hearts and minds if we set aside the time to listen. Ultimately, God has spoken through his Son (Heb 1:1,2).
J. Packer says, “God speaks to us: not only to move us to do what he wants, but to enable us to know him so that we may love him. Therefore, God sends his word to us in the character of both information and invitation… calling us into personal communion with the loving Lord himself.”
Look at it another way, how often have we used the phrase, “The Lord told me?” I accept it can be used as a sanctified means for all sorts of claims.
R.T. Kendall has said, “Most often we mention Him for one reason: to elevate our own credibility. It is not His name we are thinking of, it is our reputation. Adding the weight of God's name to our words gives us authority and respectability. But the truth is, we're not thinking of God's name and glory when we do this, we're thinking of our own.”
In the Old Testament alone we have over 2000 times where the 'Lord said' or the 'Lord spoke.' When was the last time the Lord specifically spoke to you? Perhaps more to the point, how well are we listening to Him?
I love the story about how President Roosevelt got tired of White House receptions where all he did was smile and make the usual comments. One day he decided to find out whether anybody was really listening. As each person came up to shake his hand, he said ‘Good evening, I murdered someone today.’ People would respond with comments like ‘O, how lovely’ and ‘Great! continue your good work.’ Nobody listened except one foreign diplomat. When the President said ‘Good evening, I murdered someone today’ he replied quietly, ‘Well, I’m sure they had it coming to them!’
This illustrates the fact that hearing someone speak is not the same as listening to what they actually say. The difference is crucial, especially if the person who is speaking is our Father God! Our God is a communicating God. He speaks with purpose, at the right time and with clarity, power and love.
Take a look at the start of the creation story: ‘God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light’ (Gen 1:3). God spoke, and creation came into being. God said! Then by direct action of his word, things came into being - what POWER!
Then, when He created the first people, God spoke: “Be fruitful and increase in number" (Gen 1:28). What’s more remarkable is that God continued the conversation with humankind even after humankind had failed.
The opening chapters of Genesis sets the scene and reveals to us a God who speaks and continues to do so today.
We know He speaks generally. When we see a sunset, or a mountain scene, and feel a sense of awe and wonder, or look at the seasons and note a sense of order that points to the Creator, God is speaking (Ps 29:3-9, Rom 1:20). We call this God’s ‘general revelation.’
When God speaks, as the sovereign Creator over all things, there is no one to whom His message does not apply. When God speaks, His words carry the authority, power and grace to command things into being.
D. Mathis reminds us, “Our Father, in all his majesty, has stooped to speak to us in human words. The God who made everything, including you, has spoken and that changes everything.”
Because of this truth, there is nothing more important in life than hearing from God, obeying His voice and letting Him speak life and hope into our lives.
Brother Lawrence, author of “Practice the Presence of God,” was converted one winter after he saw a barren tree, stripped of leaves and fruit, and realised it was just waiting for the sure hope of a springtime revival and summer abundance. Gazing at the tree, he grasped the extravagance of God's grace and the unfailing sovereignty of divine providence. Like the tree, he felt dead, but held hope that God had life waiting for him!
We need a Listening Faith
It’s been said that ours is the ‘most distracted generation in history.’
We’re in a world inundated with information and voices everywhere! There’s certainly no shortage of voices clamouring for our attention, and sometimes we listen to the wrong voices! Who you listen to matters!
In order to ‘Know God Better’ how do we discern the voice of God today, amongst the myriad of voices?
“To hear God’s voice we must turn down the volume of the world.”
Just try it right now!
Philip Yancey once said, “Accepting God’s love involves a relentless hushing of voices that whisper otherwise. You are not worthy. You have failed again. God cannot possibly love you… I can barely grasp the reality that God has con-descended to live within me and now loves me from the inside out.”
I recently did a study on Samuel. Samuel’s first experience of God was listening.
You’ll notice if you read some of Samuel’s story in 1 Samuel 3, God speaks first.
I remember saying to myself, just imagine starting your time with God every day, being still before Him, giving time for God to speak to you, and ensuring and allowing Him to speak first!
A key verse that perfectly sums this up is 1 Samuel 15:22: “Do you think all God wants are sacrifices, empty rituals just for show? He wants you to listen to him! Plain listening is the thing.”
Do you have an active Listening Faith?
It’s clear to me that when individuals, churches, marriages listen to God, hearts change, and repentance and forgiveness can be experienced.
When you disconnect from the voice of God, you have walked away from your strength, security, support and your satisfaction.
Our God is a communicating God, who by speaking created the universe into being and spoke through prophets, through Jesus and through faithful disciples in all ages!
Our God wants to communicate with us, so the question must be, are we tuned into God’s frequency and ready to listen?
There’s a frequency that our life was designed to be tuned to, to hear the unmistakable voice of God. Once you are tuned in and hear Him, you’ll find that your longing for Him intensifies and your heart hungers for hearing more.
May we have a fresh awakening in our relationship with God, a tuning into His voice and continue in getting to ‘Know Him Better!’
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