It’s one of the greatest pictures and promises in the Bible, and for many of us, one of the most frustrating.    The picture and promise is that God speaks, and that he speaks to each one of us.  Implied in this is that we can hear him.  And that’s where the frustration comes in.   Because most of us struggle to hear him.   We’re quite convinced that God speaks, but the question inevitably comes, “But does God speak to ME?”

And that’s not the only question.   How can I tell the difference between my voice and God’s voice?   What about what feels like silence from God?  How can I distinguish between God’s voice and the many other voices in my life?   What if I’m not ready to hear God’s voice?

Henri Nouwen writes, “From all that I said about our worried, overfilled lives, it is clear that we are usually surrounded by so much outer noise that it is hard to truly hear our God when his [voice] is speaking to us. We have often become deaf, unable to know when God calls us and unable to understand in which direction he calls us. Thus our lives have become absurd. In the word absurd, we find the Latin word surdus, which means ‘deaf.’ A spiritual life requires discipline because we need to learn to listen to God, who constantly speaks but whom we seldom hear. When, however, we learn to listen, our lives become obedient lives.”

And even better, Oswald Chambers ““Get into the habit of saying, “Speak, Lord,” and life will become a romance.”

Wow!   A romance?  Really?  Yes.   That’s the invitation.

But it still doesn’t answer the question, “HOW do I hear God speak to ME?”   It’s a great question, and there are answers.

That’s why I love the retreat we’re offering on Saturday, November 7, “Becoming Familiar With God’s Voice to You”.  This retreat provides teaching on listening to God and specifically learning about he speaks to us uniquely and individually, and more importantly, create some time and space to listen.  We’ll consider the Biblical word for this discernment, and spiritual practices that help us discern, consider our own unique lives with God, and clearly get at “Becoming Familiar with God’s Voice to You.”    It’s definitely not a “one size fits all” answer!