I read a quote by Eugene Peterson once that said, “Most people don’t read the scriptures to receive a list of moral memos, but to hear the voice of God.” I believe that most people want to hear the voice of God intimately. It is a voice that speaks to us and reminds us of an intimate connection to God. The question is, “How do we become intimately acquainted with the voice of God?

I’d like to share three practices that I believe will help you hear God intimately.

First of all, Practice Silence.

For many years I had defined prayer as a monologue with God where I told Him all about my life and concerns. Sounds a bit foolish when I say it like that. The problem was that the conversation was so one-sided it really wasn’t a conversation at all. My tendency is to so fill the space with my words that God cannot get a word in edgewise.

In one of my experiences of devotional reading in a group setting, the word from the Lord I heard in the Scripture was silence. I realized the Lord was calling me to something more in how I related to Him. As I meditated and lingered on that word it became clear to me that the Lord wanted me to be more intentional about practicing silence, not only in my human relationships, but also, especially in my relationship with Him. Because of my already practiced habits of verbalizing almost every thought and opinion I had, I knew this would be difficult. But practicing silence was an intentional way to open up space in my heart to hear the Lord. Before I could really hear, I had to learn to be quiet. I imagine this was something of the meaning of Exodus 14:14 when Moses says to the children of Israel, “The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.” The Hebrew word translated in the verse as “be still” can also be translated as “be silent”. Often when I am incessantly talking I cannot hear when God answers with His words of compassion, grace and faithfulness.”

When we practice silence we give God the opportunity to speak and be heard. I come from a culture of so much noise outwardly, and inwardly, that I can easily be uncomfortable with silence. Often in that discomfort I fill the silence as quickly as I can, with anything I can. The question is what might God be saying that we can’t hear because we are not practicing silence? If you want to hear His voice, you will have to silence not only all the other competing voices of this world, but your own voice as well. It is in the practice of silence we open the ear of our soul to hear the life giving voice. In my next posts, I will give further thoughts on becoming intimately acquainted with God’s voice.