God spoke so clearly to Abraham that day. With that much clarity, I might have even found it easy to pick up everything I have and move to a foreign land. But hearing God is not that easy for me. God doesn’t lift his voice to me directly the way He spoke to Abraham. If God would lift his voice to me as He did to Abraham, not only would I be able to hear him, it would also make me more sure that I understand his direction.

These days it is very easy to believe that God doesn’t speak to people anymore. But the truth is not God failing to speak, we just fail to hear Him when He does.

I began to think about this recently as I wrote in my journal. It was good to journal again. It had been ten months since I last captured my thoughts on the little steno pad that I use to uncover my thoughts and feelings at the beginning of a day. Journaling is good for me because it slows me down enough to listen to myself and all that is around me. More importantly I have found that as I write my own thoughts on the pages, I discover that God is speaking to me after all.  I need only to take time to hear Him. Journaling provides private moments for hearing God as I learn and grow. But God speaks to me even when times are not so private.

I have discovered that He feeds me little messages all of the time. They are scattered all about me and they come from different sources. God is speaking to me in the expected places like when I go to Him in prayer, or read the Bible, or listen to a pastor’s sermon; but God is also speaking as I reflect on my own life. God is speaking when I listen to the radio, or read a book, or visit with a friend. God is speaking to me when I see the countryside, or meet people I don’t know, and when I watch others as they travel different roads of life. God is always speaking. The challenge is not the absence of his voice. The challenge is one of paying attention to it when He speaks.

Just as God spoke to Abraham, God speaks to us. As we go about our daily lives we are distracted by the world around us. But the world around us is where we find God’s voice most often. We must only pay attention to hear it.

And when we hear Him, we are sure to understand his direction.

 

“You are the light of the world.”