Hearing God
By: Kristen L. McNulty
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It's six am on a Friday morning and I am on summer vacation. I had dreams of sleeping in this morning, but those dreams were given a jolt when I awoke shortly before 4:00 am and I couldn't fall back asleep. I tossed and turned and turned and tossed. I thought of nothing, I thought of everything, I changed positions, I even tried reading to make myself sleepy, but no matter how bad the book was- I just could not fall asleep. After two hours of this, I surrendered my sleep and decided to head downstairs and do something, anything to pass the time. So I put on my slippers and attempted to get downstairs as quietly as possible so that I would not wake up the rest of the household. I crept down the hallway, and just as I walked past my Mom's room door, the floor let out a big creaking noise. I stopped and glanced in the room, hoping that I didn't disturb her, and kept walking. Well, that walk down the hallway to my brothers room and then down the staircase had to be the noisiest walk I ever took. I finally made it downstairs, and I decided to turn on the computer. So I shut my sister's room door and I pressed the button to start up this machine. The first thing my ears were met with was the startup sound which echoed into the night. When I finally thought I was safe, the computer launched the normally "background" music and braced for reprimand from my family members. As I think about what occurred this morning, what comes back to me is that I did not make any more noise than I usually do, yet it seemed so much more louder. The creak of the staircase, the hinges on the door, the music on the computer, even the tapping of the keys, seemed so much louder for one reason- while I was making noise the rest of the house was silent. Many times I have walked from my room down to the basement, and turned on the computer, but usually when I do this, it is at a sane hour while the rest of the house is moving and making noise. In fact, the sound we make together, usually drowns out the noise I made this morning. As I think of this experience and try to relate it to a spiritual perspective I think of our communication with God. So many times we try to hear God's voice, but all we can hear are the sounds around us. It is only when those sounds are "turned off", can we hear God's voice. When I decided to walk downstairs while everyone else was sleeping, I didn't imagine the noise I would make because I'd never taken that walk while everyone else was silent. Saying that then, just think of how good we could hear God's voice while everything else is silent. No TV, no radio, no stereo. Just us and God. Elijah had to be brought out of his surroundings to a cave in the middle of nowhere before he heard what he described as God's whisper. We need to make a cave of our own if we are serious about hearing God's voice. Lock yourself in your bedroom, sit in your closet, buy earplugs, do whatever is necessary to drown out the sounds of the world in order to hear the whisper of God.
This devotional was aired as a part of the Making A Difference Christian Radio Show.