After my last post, I never expected that the next post
wouldn’t come for over 3 months. There
are several reasons, personal and spiritual, that it has taken so long. On the personal side, I am a perfectionist
and tend to procrastinate when I am faced with a challenging project that I may
not be able to complete perfectly. At
the source of that is my pride, which becomes a spiritual matter. I had grand ideas of posting at least once a
week when I started the blog. That was
not a reasonable expectation to have in my life right now, so I’ve had to let
go of expecting to post on any kind of regular schedule. That was hard, but if I hadn’t, then I would
be posting for the sake of posting and not for the reason I intended…sharing God
with others through what He has done in my life. On the spiritual side, the topic of learning
to hear God speaking in your life is critical for a Christian, and I take sharing
what that looks like in my life very seriously.
I have been praying for 3 months about the topic, and I’ve had many
thoughts about directions this could go.
I am still not completely sure about how it will turn out, but I feel
God prompting me to post. I am trusting
Him to direct the words.
What does it mean to recognize the Navigator’s voice? I did
a small amount of research on the aspects of the human voice. Actually, I googled “aspects of voice” and
was directed to an entry on the human voice in Wikipedia. That being said, I don’t claim to be a
professional on the topic so I hope my connections here makes sense. I am simplifying the very complex system of
speech. We are created in God’s image, so I think a basic understanding of the
components of our human voice can connect to understanding how we recognize the
sovereign voice of God.
The physical act of speaking results in a sound being
produced that has a volume, pitch, and timbre (pronounced tam-ber). Volume is how loud or soft a voice sounds. Pitch is how high or low a frequency is
produced. Volume and pitch are easily
adjusted based on the situation. Think
about cheering for your favorite sports team in a crowded stadium (loud volume
and high pitch) compared to soothing an upset child in the middle of the night
(soft volume and low pitch). Here is as
technical as I am going to get: A human
voice is a series of timbres, or tones, produced through the same vibration
patterns of the vocal cords. Each natural
voice has a specific timbre or tone that distinguishes it from other voices.
Synonyms for tone are quality and characteristic. The distinguishing
factor of God’s voice is His tone, which is an outpouring of His characteristics. God does not change His nature or character
as we see in Malachi 3:6, “I the Lord do not change.” He does not disguise His
voice from His children, because it must always be true to His character. So, the
question becomes how do we learn to recognize the character of God?
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) tells us, “All Scripture is breathed
out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for
training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete,
equipped for every good work.” One thing
I forgot to mention about the human voice is that it requires breath to pass
over the vocal chords to be formed. God’s
breath passes through the scripture so we might hear His voice. That makes me say, “Thank you, God, for helping
us understand the human voice knowing we are created in Your image, so we can apply
earthly knowledge to get a glimpse of your heavenly meaning.” God is very intentional. I love that about Him! We learn about Him through His Word then we
are able to see and hear Him all around us.
He cannot speak anything in conflict to His character. Once we know His character then He can use all
of His creation to speak to us.
My recommendation for learning God’s character and the tone
of His voice is to linger, learn, and listen.
On our daily path, we live in busyness and noise. We have to make a deliberate effort to linger
in His presence away from the noise. This is where we find rest and
clarity. As we are lingering, we spend
time in the Word learning about Him. As you read a verse, ask yourself, “What
does this tell me about God?” That is when we begin to recognize His voice and trust
His direction for our path. There is no
greater feeling than knowing without a doubt that you heard in your heart the
voice of God speak comfort, presence, and peace to you during a time of
overwhelm or uncertainty. My prayer for
you is that you will linger, learn, and listen so that you will recognize the Navigator’s
voice on your path.
I would like to hear from you. Is there a time when you knew without a doubt
that God was speaking to you? How did
you know it was the Navigator’s voice? Share
your experiences in the comments below.
