Why Don't I Hear God?

Why Don’t I Hear God?

If God is always with us, why are there seasons when He feels completely silent?

In this episode of Wine Into Water, we tackle one of the most common—and most painful—questions of faith: Why don’t I hear God? Whether you're in a season where heaven feels quiet, where prayers seem unanswered, or where you're wondering if God is speaking and you simply can't hear Him, this conversation is for you.

Together, we explore the stories of Scripture that remind us we're not alone in asking this question. From David's cries in the Psalms to Habakkuk's frustration, from Job's suffering to Elijah's whisper, the Bible is filled with people who wrestled with God's silence. Rather than explaining away the tension, Scripture invites us into it—and shows us what faithful endurance looks like when answers don't come.

We discuss the difference between God's silence and His absence, and why silence is not necessarily a sign that something is wrong with your faith. We wrestle with our tendency to assume that God's quietness must be our fault, and consider the possibility that some seasons of silence are simply part of the journey of walking with Him.

The conversation also turns toward the realities of modern life: our busyness, distractions, endless notifications, and the pressure to stay productive. How can we hear a whisper in a world that never stops shouting? What if part of the challenge isn't that God isn't speaking, but that we've forgotten how to be still long enough to listen?

Along the way, Jen and Lydia share the practices that have helped them recognize God's presence in everyday life—from Scripture and prayer to worship music, community, nature, and the unexpected "echoes" that often reveal His guidance over time. They reflect on the importance of paying attention, cultivating a posture of expectancy, and remembering that God often speaks in ways that are quieter and more subtle than we expect.

This episode is for anyone who has ever wondered whether God hears them, whether they missed His voice, or whether they're walking through a season where heaven feels closed. It's a reminder that God's silence is not abandonment, that faith often grows in the waiting, and that the God who promises never to leave us is still present—even when we cannot hear Him clearly.

Because sometimes the question isn't whether God is speaking.

Sometimes it's whether we've made space to listen.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Sometimes we pray for the miracles. We wait for the breakthrough, the healing, the answered prayer. And when it doesn't come, when life feels ordinary, heavy, or quiet, we wonder if something is wrong. We read about water turning into wine, but most of us are living in seasons where it feels like the opposite. Where the celebration fades and the glass feels empty. Where faith isn't dramatic, it's dishes in the sink, laundry that never ends, prayers whispered into the silence. But what if the miracle was never the point? What if what we're really longing for isn't the wine, but the living water? The presence of Jesus in the middle of the Monday. The abundance that doesn't depend on circumstances. This is a podcast for seasons that feel unmiraculous. For the questions we carry quietly. For the faith that keeps showing up, even when nothing changes. Welcome to Wine in to Water. I'm your co-host, Jen Asplin. And I'm your other co-host, Lydia Rosencreve. We're two women who have been asking questions, nobody seems to be answering. Questions about faith in seasons when life can feel unmiraculous.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

And we kept having these conversations, just the two of us, and we realized we can't be the only ones who are asking these questions.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

So we decided to invite you into the conversation. We're so glad you're here. For others, it has been, what if he is talking to me and I just can't hear him? And I think for me at least, I've lived both of those seasons. And so our question for today is that.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

I feel like that again, we've we have this has got to be the hardest question. Um I truly believe that it's a question that God doesn't answer in in his word. Um it's not one that he ignores, right? I mean, if throughout the scripture, there are so many people who have a version of that question, right? Like, um, in this the Psalms are filled with, you know, how long, O Lord, and where are you? And my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And um so it's not, we're not the first generation to ask this, and God doesn't shy away from having the question in his word. I mean, that's um, I think if I can, I'm just gonna get off track for just one second. Like if I were to write an entire book and it was all about me, I'd want to make myself look as good as possible in the entire book, right? And God doesn't, you know, what what a just something about him that that I think is so amazing is he doesn't hide, he's so big that he doesn't have to try and hide the parts that we can't understand, right? He's good. I mean, there's no there's no part of him that's not good, but there are things that don't feel good um in our relationship with him, and this is one of those. And he doesn't try to gloss it over, he also doesn't answer it, but he doesn't try to gloss over it. And um so if we take the version of, I feel like God is just being silent in my life. I'm praying, I'm going to church, I'm reading his word, I'm doing all of the things that I know to do. I'm praising him. And it feels like literally the doors of heaven have just shut above me, and there's nothing coming um this way. And I think that what I want to say to start off with, Jen, is those are absolutely seasons that I think every Christian walks through at some point. So if you're in that season, to our listeners, if you're in that season right now, it's not just you. It's not you being um unchristian, or you don't have enough faith, or you know, if I just did this, I'd hear from God, or if it maybe I need to change this, or it's is it unconfessed sin? Or I mean, and that, you know, that's certainly possible, but I think sometimes we can do everything right, and heaven is still silent.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

It's like silence isn't the absence of faith, it's a part of the journey. Yeah. It reminds me of David, right? Like it he's described in the Bible as a God as a as a man after God's heart, the kind of face we all want to have. And yet when you look at some of the psalms he wrote, there were certainly seasons where God was silent, right? How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Right.

SPEAKER_03 6:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Um, but I think when you are in that place where you cannot hear his voice, you assume that you're doing something wrong or that there's something wrong with you. Yes. Even though, to your point, he has given us scripture where there are so many people, even people that we would consider heroes of the faith, who have had seasons where they just didn't hear from him.

unknown 7:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

And what a what a what a blessing to know that we're not alone in that.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Just one of the gifts of his word, right? Is I mean, I don't think there's anything we could walk through, Jen, that we can't find um something in his word that speaks to that. But I feel like this one's like there's so many things. And I think where I struggle the most is in not understanding why. Um you know, because like I said, he doesn't ever answer the question about why he is silent sometimes. Um, I think instead what he gives us is the res the response of those heroes of the faith that you talked about. He gives us those responses. And basically in each of those seasons, those those folks just had to keep walking, right? It wasn't um they cried out. He I and I know that he heard, right? We do we know that he hears. It um Habakka, right? Um, you know, how long, oh Lord. Um and I may be saying that name right wrong. So I haven't been to seminary. So I've heard it pronounced a number of different ways. I'm gonna call it Habaka, but I think that that's not actually correct. I can't help you there. But anyway, um, it's what it looks like, sort of, or how habak habakak, or I don't know. I always heard Habakka, but um but there's no place in that book after that. I think that's see, that's the first chapter. That's like the second verse of the book, right? How long, oh Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen, right? Like, I mean, we go straight into it in that book. Um, there's no answer from God, yet, in by the time we get to the third chapter, the prophet says, Though the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vines, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. And I think we see that same response in the Psalms. Um, you know, the like, how long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? Um, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. And then immediately, yet you are holy. Right. And so I think that perhaps one of the reasons that God walks us through these seasons or allows us to walk through these seasons, is they are a test of what do I truly believe? And even when I am not getting a fresh word, even when I don't feel God's presence right beside me, or even you know, inside of me, or whatever, can I still stand up and say, I'm going to rejoice in you, Lord? I'm going to trust in you. I know that you hear me, even though I don't have any proof. So is this a season that we all have to walk through? Because it is where our faith meets the road, right? It's where we truly decide if God is who he says he is.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

That was maybe the thing that was coming up for me. So one of the verses that has been powerful in my life has been just the like, be still and know that I am God. And I think sometimes we forget who it is that we're talking to. Does that make sense? Like I think sometimes we want genie in the bottle genius or Jesus, right? Just let me give you the things that I want and make those things happen. And when those things don't happen, we go to, well, I just can't hear God. God's not answering my prayers, He's not doing the things. Um, and I think that verse points to the same thing in Job, where Job has every right to be angry and upset and doubting the faith. And then you see his friends like pile on and just make that whole problem worse, right? And then eventually God speaks and he's like, okay, I'm sorry. Were you there when I separated the night from the day? Were you were you there when I made the mountains? Tell me, tell me, Job, how did that go? And so I think sometimes we forget who we're talking to, like literally the creator of the universe, the God that puts breath in our lungs. And I wonder if what we read in the scripture is a reminder to us that we might not always hear him. And there might be seasons that are silent, and maybe part of that silence is he's not genie in the bottle, Jesus. He's the creator of the universe. And I think sometimes we need to remember that and be in awe that we have the opportunity to have a personal relationship with him, but something in our heart has shifted, perhaps, and we've forgotten that. We've forgotten who he is and what that means for our lives. And the silence is maybe a reminder to approach his throne with awe.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Yes. Two things that brought up two things for me. Um one is I think that you you nailed that you nailed that gen. Um I think that we our our society has gotten very casual about almost everything, right? And I think as that has happened, that that includes how we see God and how we um how we approach him. And and there is a personal relationship there, right? Like that was one of the things that Jesus came to give us. Like he loved us so much that he came as a person, right, to experience all that we experienced, to walk the earth with us, and then to live inside of us with this Holy Spirit, right? So there's no question that God wants a personal relationship with us, and that he he tore the veil. He we can approach him. Um, but I think that we also, in at least, and again, we're we're talking primarily to American women here, right? I hope that we, you know, we hope that we have a audience. Girl, we have a listener in Malaysia and Jamaica. Okay, so I don't know what Christianity is like in other countries. So I'm just gonna say that. Yeah. But I think in America, um, in certain denominations, we've gotten a little casual. And I don't always, I think you're right. I'm just gonna speak for myself. I don't always approach the throne with awe the way that I should. So I think you're absolutely right. Um and I think the other thing is my tendency in life, and I and I don't think I'm alone here as a woman. I really don't. My tendency is to always take the blame for everything. Like this must be my fault, right? The traffic's bad. I must somehow have screwed up this morning and caused traffic to be, you know, I mean, it's stupid. That's a really extreme example, but I do tend to um weigh on the side of I've screwed up somewhere when things don't go the way I think they should, right? I'm using a lot of air quotes today for those of you who are not listening, who are not watching this on um YouTube and I don't know why. Um and so my tendency in again in this is well, God's not speaking to me. What have I done wrong? Where have I displeased him? Why is he disappointed in me? And I'm gonna start going, you know, back and back and back and back and back and back and trying to find what where did I go wrong? You know, what it what have I and I, Jen, all I want to say about that is it's not always about us.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

It was the that was the mind that was bouncing around in my head is this reminder that it is not always about me. Like I am not the center of the universe, right? I am not the sun that everything revolves around. I I don't know, maybe it's back to the reminder that we need so often. Like, I am not God.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Exactly. Exactly. And and I get so caught up in uh the whole world spins because I keep it spinning. Um, or at least my world. Let me say that my little circle, right? Yeah, my little circle spins because I keep all the plates spinning. Um and so I, you know, it that's a lie. It's just flat out a lie that I tell myself. Um, and so when God is silent, it doesn't mean that I have done something wrong. And when he's speaking, it doesn't mean that I've done anything right. His actions do not depend on me. Um, for the there are some things, obviously, that are in my control and that I do have a responsibility for. But the God of the universe is not sitting up there going, okay, well, all right, let me see what Lydia's gonna do today, and then I'll figure out what I'm gonna do. You know, it's ridiculous. But I think sometimes my mental space goes there.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

The thing that that that makes me think about with us and our spinning plates, which I think we're all guilty of doing. And I think it was Dallas Willard, um, that he has this quote of if the devil can't make you sin, he'll make you busy. And I think that's maybe the other dynamic that this question surfaces for me is it's really hard to hear from God when you have no margin with which to hear him. Um and I just think our lives, especially in this season, are just busy. And I know that I'm not alone in that. That's every friend I have, every woman that I meet. And I think we live in a world that is hyper focused on productivity and keeping up with what everyone else is doing and having our kids and all the things. And like we're just we're just busy. Like ask anyone, how are you doing? And nine times out of ten, the answer is like, oh, I'm just I'm busy. Um right. And I was having this conversation a week ago in a women's Bible study that I'm a part of. And it was just like, I I recognize I have no margin. I don't know what I can put down, but I recognize that I can't love people well when I'm hurried because love doesn't rush. And so I know that I need to do something, but this busyness we have, I think is also a part of why we don't hear him because we're so busy doing like Martha in our way around this life, right? Which I'm wholly guilty of. Uh, and then there's no space for him to speak into.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

I think that you have nailed it again, Jen. Um God is not, you know, he says he's a jealous God. Like he's not gonna compete for our attention. Like he's, you know. Um he also he the vulnerability of God is not something I spend a whole lot of time thinking about, but it really is overwhelming, right? Um that he would come to earth in the form of a of a temporal body, a body that could be sick and tired and broken and beaten and killed. Um, I think if I just sat and thought about that for a little while, that I could I I would, I'm not even sure I'd get back up, right? I mean, it's just so amazing. But then he also, I mean, he he risks rejection. He loves us so much that he gives us the choice, and and there are countless people who just completely reject him. And then you and I, even in our daily life, we fail and we reject him, right? And he knew that and he still chose to become vulnerable. But he's not going to he's not gonna force us. to put down the phone to stop all of the the activities to um to make the time to just sit and be still with him he's not gonna force that and so I think you're right sometimes when we don't hear from him it's because he's he's sitting there waiting to have a conversation with us and we're not willing to even put down the phone to do it I think that's right I think that's completely right and if I if I think back to our initial brainstorm of what the questions were the way that we had phrased this one is why is that the thing why can we hear him in the stillness and in the silence yeah when the world is so loud literally like buzzing right the busyness and distraction and music and podcasts and audiobooks and cars and construction and like literally our lives are so loud and yet we're like where you find him is in like the silence and stillness that feels so dang countercultural to the season that we live in. There's almost a guilt about that Jen right like there's almost a guilt of I'm gonna go sit and be quiet for a little while. And the immediate you know voice in my head is well you have way too much to do for that what are you what that you know that's selfish. You need to go do this for this child or you know go do this for this person.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Um so it's not even you know it's not even that I don't always want to it's like the competing voices of what I should be doing they're the air quotes again um what I should be doing right as a woman are loud you know they're very loud and I don't think that's always the enemy that's just my own um shoulds you know I should be doing this then I should be doing that and those shoulds are not from God but those are societal those are personal those are um the expectations that I put on myself and that society puts on us I think and and sometimes even the church right I don't know that that's just a modern day problem though like there's certainly more of it today but I even think back to like the time of Jesus' ministry right and all of the times where he withdrew from the crowd and went into the silence and I can just imagine his disciples being like Jesus seriously like there are people to heal there are miracles to do we got to keep preaching the message like you told us that your time was limited like we got to go and Jesus is like I'm gonna take a nap. Yeah I'm gonna go up on the hill I'm gonna go to the garden and pray. And I can just imagine his disciples sitting there being like Lord we have all day like we we like we gotta go let's go um and so it just it feels human that that's our tendency and I think yeah you're right not only did he come down in complete vulnerability but it feels like he modeled for us what this is supposed to look like in a world that would push you to do the exact opposite um and as you were as as I was talking I was sitting there and thinking like man like the enemy has to be so happy that we're just so busy and so chaotic and so noisy. And I think I was almost like but did he do it all the enemy's not building the house across the street from me but the construction is loud. And so I think the thing that you pointed out is it's not all the enemy it's us it's the world around us it's the way that we respond to that and that doesn't mean that it's it's all the enemy and it's all evil no but he might delight in it yeah and I think I think that's an important point that you just said it's not all evil right like obviously this the Mary Martha story in John I think it was in John um is it it's like the definitive story I think for like as women we think about it a lot.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Like there's a lot of books like how to be a Mary in the Martha world or you know I mean like and the truth is is that we're all Mary and Martha right it's just um but I've heard I've heard some good preaching on that story. Um and a couple of things that stood out for me one is the word for I think Jesus says you know Martha you're distracted by many things and I think the the the word um the Greek word actually means torn right and that really resonated with me because how many times do I feel like I'm being pulled apart by all of the competing obligations for that I have and I mean Jesus wanted to eat you know he needed to eat so I don't think he was like mad at Martha for cooking and and doing all of that. Like Jesus knew they had she had at least 13 people like 13 men in her house that she didn't normally have and and it could be that more of you know he had other followers or it could be that even more people were there and somebody had to cook for all those people. And so I don't think he's you know when he speaks to her I don't think he's saying um you know just leave all of that and come sit down. I think it's more of a of a heart posture right and it's just she was it was none of nothing she was doing was evil it it was bad. She yeah she it had to be done um I think it was a reminder and maybe especially to women right he chose to to tell this story through two women that we are torn and and as long as we're in this world we're gonna be torn and perhaps Jesus himself felt torn right um from time to time because like you said there were all these people to be healed and there were all these you know pre this the sermons to be preached and um he could only help so many people when he was in a bodily form and you and I have that same restriction but I think it was just a I think I think he spoke to her gently you know I wish we could hear the tone but I think he spoke to her gently and just was like Martha all of those things are good all of those things have to be done. But you also need to make time or at least while you're washing the dishes can your heart be in a posture of sitting at my feet of hearing from me it's not the doing it's where is my head in the middle of the doing where is my heart in the middle of the doing and if I am spun up with why do I have to do all this by myself and why doesn't anybody ever help me and um I oh I got to get these dishes done because I got to go get the laundry done because then I got to go get some more dog food and then I've got you know and all I can think about is all the things then yeah I'm in I'm torn and I am not he's he's gonna tell me there's something better Jen he's gonna tell me there's something better and that it's again it's not the physical doing it's where is my head in the middle of it I think that's remarkably true.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

I don't know if I've shared this before but um there was a woman who spoke at a conference and she talked about doing dishes and she hated doing dishes but they didn't have a dishwasher have I told you this maybe it's okay they didn't have a dish they didn't have a dishwasher we're not always going to have the same listeners so tell it again. They didn't have a dishwasher and she hated doing dishes and so she would begrudgingly do dishes every night after dinner and hate it and be mad that she had to do it and it took her away from her kids it took her away from Jesus like it took her to this place to your point where her mind as she was doing that was in that place. And I don't know how she came up with it but what she decided to do was that for every dish she washed she would say a prayer for someone and so as she washed every dinner plate she would just go through her prayer list and start praying for the people on her prayer list for her kids for her husband for the college students she served and what she articulated was it took this very busy mundane task that had previously made her angry and resentful and have a like Martha posture towards it and transformed it into this moment where she was just washing dishes with Jesus right like she was just spending time with him in doing the things that she had to do like the dishes had to get done so they could eat breakfast in the morning um but how she used it as a moment to shift her posture like that I don't know it's 20 years ago maybe that I heard that story. But I think about it because our lives are full like our lives are busy the laundry has to get done right um but maybe it's just a reminder that he's always there but he's not gonna fight for us he's gonna let us be torn and maybe it's just an invitation on like hey there's something better for you here. You don't have to do those dishes with a heart of resentment. You can talk to me while you do the dishes like it's okay I understand you've got things to do but like be with me while you do them. Yeah I think that's exactly what he wants um maybe for our listeners when do you hear God?

SPEAKER_01 34:33

I think there's a few times that are probably the most um specific that I can think of. One is I you know I have a commute and I listen to praise music um during those a lot of times and and that's you know it's like and and sometimes I'll be honest I'm resentful of having you know I don't want to I don't want to drive um I wish I didn't have this drive but it actually is a time that um I can hear from him is when I'm just kind of stuck in the car right and then um I love the messages from Elevation Church. Um Steven Furtick is is one of my favorites and God really speaks to me through a a number I mean almost I mean every time I I hear that hear one of his messages he speaks to me but there are times where it's like literally I feel like he is speaking to me. Yep yep um and so that has been you know being immersed in his word that I I really I will say like listening to those messages sometimes two and three times I really have grown to know his word so much better than I did before. And so I hear I really really hear from him when I am um I I think Stephen Verdeck is you know is extremely anointed. And so I really hear from God through him. So I think that you know he speaks in a lot of different ways Jen right he speaks through his word I mean that's his number one way of speaking there's no question and there's nothing that takes the place of being in his word by our like not listening to somebody else interpret it but actually being in it um but I hear him in music I hear him in messages I hear him in books I hear him um I think he echoes in a lot of different ways through nature through I have guinea pigs um and you have a dog right I think I have learned some spiritual lessons through animals um uh I I think he speaks to I mean he he can speak through anything it's his creation I don't know where how are some of the ways that you hear from him Jen um so the first thing I do in the morning is scripture reading.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

Wasn't always that way started on the Bible app where I'd get I don't know the devotional of the week and it'd have a verse or two, right? And some devotional around it. It started off like as a very five minutes before I get out of bed practice. But it's evolved into this morning routine of I get up, I let said dog outside uh normally at like five in the morning when the house is silent and still and quiet. Um and I have a corner of my couch that looks out to the woods behind our house and I get a very hot cup of coffee and I get my Bible and I sit on the corner of the couch and I read scripture. I am I think six days away from my second year of reading the entire Bible in a year. Um and I have a devotional that goes along with whatever I'm reading that morning and then I journal because I think Mother Teresa said that her mind was like wild horses that is my mind. And so I found that to keep myself focused I write my prayers in the morning and I just sit and write and I talk to God and they're in these beautiful leather bound journals that I got for a Christmas gift one year and I just keep buying them. And at some point when I am dead I am sure my children will read through them and think I am a lunatic. And they keep them all because someday like someone might wonder what was going on in this head of mine. Anyway, so this has been my practice and it's turned from this five minutes into I mean most mornings I'll sit there half an hour sometimes an hour just contemplating whatever is on my mind that morning but I think what it's done is even when I'm not there, when I drink a cup of coffee now I'm just like oh he's with me like he's he's here having this coffee with me in the carpool line in the parking lot of therapy in like whatever right um and so I like this every time I have coffee I'm just reminded of like oh I have this place where he meets me where I am still and silent and in his word and I think I'm gonna be really clear there are a lot of mornings where I sit looking at nature drinking my cup of coffee in his word writing out my prayers and what comes back is nothing. Yeah like there's no there's no fresh word that he doesn't he didn't say anything to me right but it's just this reminder of like he's there he's invited me into this relationship and part of it is relationships take time and they take effort and they take work and they take me being vulnerable to and so just this belief that I am building a relationship with him. But a lot of times like I don't know that I hear from him but I somehow walk out with a bit more clarity on like what I need to do that day if that makes sense. And a lot of my prayers are repeatedly like God I think you asked me to do this. This is how it's going like can you just be clear with me am I supposed to be doing this thing? Am I not supposed to be doing this thing like give me a clear word on this and there'll be nothing for weeks or months or years. But then I'll look back and be like oh I see it now like I see where he was planting seeds the word you used was echo. Um I think he echoes in all sorts of things and maybe part of it for me over time has been like I don't believe in coincidence. I believe in God and so it shapes this worldview I have where I'm constantly like looking for his echoes because I believe that they're there and um I have no idea what verse this is but there's this verse that says like seek me and you will find me and so it's become this heart posture of just looking for him in all the things and when things are like happening repeatedly and people are in different contexts telling me the same thing without knowing it I'm just like okay God like I hear you I hear you through this conversation and this conversation and this conversation and this conversation like I hear you saying um it was weird. One of these things has been like showing up like I had a friend who recently lost her husband and like the thing that kept circling for me was like there's something in this about showing up even when I don't want to like I didn't want to go to the funeral because it was going to be awful but I woke up and like the word I got that morning was show up. Okay. So she's speaking and she spoke at her husband's funeral which like I cannot fathom right but her message was literally about how one of their family values was showing up and how she looked out of around the room and like these people had showed up. And then I went to my Bible study the next morning and it's someone shares a testimony every time but her testimony was about just Showing up as who you are and trusting that that was going to be enough. And so we had this like whole table conversation around like the importance of just showing up and how that's that's like half the work, right? Is just showing up. And so I sat back that week and I'm like, all right, got it. The messages show up. And so I still don't know why that's the word I got, right? Like, sure, I needed to be at the funeral. And sure it was like, it's always good to show up as who you are. But then what tends to happen for me is at some point in the future, there's going to be a thing where I'm going to have a choice to take one path or another path. And what happens for me is I get to that crossroads and I'm reminded of the echoes he's given me. And I can tell myself, like, okay, it was for this. Like this was the moment where like his word was show up. And so I'm gonna go show up. And when I'm obedient and I do the thing that I've heard echoing in the rest of my life, then like that's where magical things happen. And so it's not, I don't know, like in a strong wind or an earthquake or like these big grand moments, right? For me, it's more of like the Elijah moments of, and then God whispered. And sometimes it's his voice, and sometimes, Lydia, it's been your voice, right? But like he he echoes in a way where I'm just like, Oh, I got it.

SPEAKER_01 45:49

So I think this is probably a a good a really good way to finish up this episode, Jen. Um in that I mean, I think that if you seek me, you will find me is a really powerful way to answer the question. Like, I and and I don't want to discount that there are times where God is silent, right? Like he uses that for a reason, and there will be seasons where that is true, and you can seek all you want, you're not gonna feel like you're finding him, right? So I want to I want to acknowledge that because we may have listeners that are going through a season like that right now. But I think for the rest of the time, if we're looking for him, we're gonna find him. Right? He's not playing hide and seek. And so having your heart posture the way that you do, Jen, where, you know, because there are people who would take the same things that you have experienced and just be like, yeah, whatever. Um, or not even notice, not even be able to see that showing up has been a theme that you have been hearing. But if we're so busy, we'll pass right by those echoes. You know, I was speaking of Elevation Church, the message that I heard this morning was, you know, if if Moses was alive today, he would have passed right by the burning bush because he would have been on his phone. Ha. Right? How true is that. So, and I'm not, I mean, I'm not criticizing saying that phones are the root of all evil or anything like that. I'm basically just saying that that um we do have to be in a heart posture where we are expecting him to show up and we're expecting him to speak, and we're and and and it's not always gonna be how we thought it was gonna be. It may be in a completely different way than we expected, right? But if we go into our day with that expectation of Lord, you're I know you're here and I know you're with me, and I know you're going to speak to me. Don't let me miss it. Right? Don't let me miss it. Help me not to miss it, Lord. You know how distracted I am. You know that I am your errant little child who is chasing after all of the shiny new objects. Help me to focus and to hear what you're trying to say, no matter how you choose to speak it. I think he's gonna honor that, Jen. Um and so I'm gonna so what I'm taking out of this is I really need to reset my heart posture. Um I don't know that I am walking into my days right now expecting to hear from him and being undistracted enough to hear from him.

SPEAKER_02 49:31

I think that's a reminder we all need every day in full seasons that have so much going on. Um just this reminder to be present in what we're doing and then like and to know that he's there. I think sometimes as Christians we have a very like New Testament view on faith. Yeah. And I think what what Jesus did was powerful because in the old testament, right, he only spoke to chosen people. Like he chose Moses to walk in front of the burning bush. And Moses was like his intermediary between him and like the entire nation of Israel.

SPEAKER_00 50:48

Right.

SPEAKER_02 50:49

And I think maybe it's just a reminder that like that relationship is what Jesus opened up and like placed it within us. But I think what what I've learned the last couple of years is like that that didn't change the heart of God. Like the heart of God has always been the same. And so, like, one of the verses that I got as we were talking about this was from Deuteronomy, like Old Testament, mean judgy God of the Old Testament, right? Which is I think how like sometimes we view him with the New Testament, yeah, yeah. But the Old Testament verse from Deuteronomy 31 is he will never leave you nor forsake you. Never. And so I think some of this is like even in the silence, even in the busy, even in our disobedience, like he's always right there.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

And how easy it is for us to forget that he uses excuse me, he uses the word remember a lot in the Bible. Um he knows that his children are forgetful.

SPEAKER_03 52:22

Aren't we though?

SPEAKER_02 52:27

Um I think that's a good place to stop. I think so too. Would you like to pray over our listeners, or do you want me to?

SPEAKER_01 52:36

I would love to.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 52:40

Lord, thank you. Um thank you for this reminder that you will never leave us, you will never forsake us. You are always here, you will never fail. God, you never fail. You never abandon us. You promise, Lord, that when we walk through the waters, they're not going to overwhelm us and we walk through the fire, that you're right there beside us. And um Lord, you know that we are forgetful and we are easily distracted and we are busy. And so, Lord, I'm just praying over Jen and I and our listeners right now that you would clear our minds, Lord, clear our hearts so that we can hear from you more clearly. God, help us to walk through our days with a posture of expectancy that we are gonna hear you and see you. And Lord, it may not be in the ways that we think or the ways that we've been taught. Help us to see and hear you in the ways that you show up. Help us to hear those echoes, Lord, in a very, very loud and busy world. And Lord, for those who are going through a period where heaven's doors feel shut. Um, I pray for strength and I pray for endurance and perseverance, and I pray for the faith that gets all of those walking through that season to the other side, Lord. And I pray that they will know that they're not alone. God, that um not only are you still with them, but we are too, as their sisters in Christ, that we are praying for them, that we love them. Lord, help them to feel seen if they are feeling unseen right now. Lord, we all need you to be El Roy, as you were to Hagar. God, we need you to be the God who sees us.

SPEAKER_00 54:57

So I pray, Lord, as we go our separate ways today, that we believe in our hearts that you speak us. And that you speak to us.