Yielding to the Voice of God

I can think back on many things I observed about my late grandfather, Elder Paul King. I paid close attention to him because he was what many would say “a man of few words” but his presence brought a sense of safety and grace. Back then I was young and didn’t understand why sometimes I would see my grandfather just quietly sitting in his recliner, with no tv on, no music, or any form of entertainment. Only a notepad and he simply just appeared to be pondering. Even when I went car riding and ran errands with him, he wouldn’t play the radio most times. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed talking and laughing with him on those rides. But sometimes, I would think to myself “Can we get a little music going?” Looking back on these observations, what I now understand is that my grandfather was consistently positioning himself to hear the voice of God.

A question that is asked often is: How do I know when God is speaking? Here’s the answer: God is speaking at all times. Even in His silence He is speaking. Because here’s the thing, God loves His children and wants to have a genuine and loving relationship with us. And as we know, in any relationship, communication is one of the most important aspects to keep a relationship strong and connected. Therefore, God uses every opportunity to communicate with us. Even the most mundane steps of our day, He will use to speak something very profound. But often times, if we are being honest, we sometimes turn our ear and don’t yield to what is being said. Yield, meaning to submit, subdue, or surrender to Gods will (direction) and power (sovereignty). When we prioritize our will, what makes us comfortable, and what we feel like doing or not doing? We are not yielding to the voice of God. This lack of yielding is detrimental to our growth and maturity in Christ and ultimately the more we turn our ear and tune Him out, the more difficult it will become to actually hear Him and we begin to fall into what I would call a state of selective hearing. So could it be that instead of us questioning whether God is speaking, we should be questioning have we even been yielding when He does speak. Or are we yielding to our own voice? Such as “No, I’ll do that tomorrow” or “I’ll reach out to him/her tomorrow” and “I’ll start the business later.” We all have probably heard these examples. But my brother or my sister, just to make it clear, I can tell you now that any voice that serves procrastination is definitely not the voice of God. Note, there is God’s voice, your voice, and the enemy’s voice (fiery darts). Our voice usually can be identified if it serves our flesh, feelings, and comfortability. But that’s a tricky one, because the enemy plays in those categories as well.

The enemy’s voice brings confusion and unsettledness, because it conflicts with the Spirit that dwells inside of us. He is known as the author of confusion who’s goal is to only steal, kill, and destroy. Often times, he will try to make things so complicated so that we feel overwhelmed and begin to question if God even listens or speaks to us. The answer is YES! He is speaking to all of us. However, God speaks to us all differently. But we can be still and assured that He knows His children individually and will meet us exactly where we are. He is not a complicated God and He wants nothing more for us to talk to Him and also hear Him. For His word says, “my sheep know my voice” (John 10:27). What does He mean by that? Sheep are fully dependent on their shepherd to lead and guide them on where to go. In order to follow that guidance, the sheep must first know the voice of the shepherd. Therefore, the sheep must keep their ears in-tuned with their Shepherd and become familiar with the voice and sound of the one who leads them. If they are not familiar with their shepherd’s voice or sound, they can be led astray by the wrong voice. This is the same for us As God’s children, we must familiarize ourselves with God’s voice. And this can only be accomplished by consistently hearing, trusting, and then most importantly yielding to the voice of the one and only good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

It takes two to grow and maintain relationship. I challenge you today to sit and write down what God has been speaking to you. Or maybe you feel he has been silent? That is okay, process what you believe God is doing in your life currently? Because again, even in His silence He is speaking.