Hearing God Clearly

Noise is everywhere, and it’s not just in your phone. It’s in your worries, your decisions, and the constant pressure to move fast. Today we slow things down and talk about something deeply practical: hearing God’s voice when life is pulling you in every direction. If you’ve ever wondered why God feels quiet, or how to know what’s really from him, this is a grounded reset you can take into the rest of your day. 
We walk through key Scriptures that frame what it means to be guided by God, including the call to stillness from Psalm 46:10 and the relational promise from Jesus that his sheep hear his voice and follow. We also look at Samuel’s learning curve, because many of us relate to not recognizing God’s voice at first. For most people, this isn’t about hearing something audible, it’s about spiritual discernment and daily practices that make room for God to speak through Scripture, conviction, and a calm, steady direction. 
We get practical about building a quiet time with God, tuning your heart to hear a whisper, and reading the Bible slowly enough to actually listen. If you’ve been treating Scripture like a checklist, consider a new goal: not getting through the reading, but letting the reading get through to you. You’ll walk away with encouragement, clarity, and a simple way to seek wisdom for your work, your choices, and your peace today. 

Transcript

Welcome And The Five-Minute Rhythm

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mack. I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back, relax, and let me help you start your day right. Good morning, everybody. Welcome. Today I want to talk about hearing God's voice. First of all, I think we all hear God's voice more often than we think we do. And God does speak to us. He speaks to us in so many different ways. And we're going to look at some of those this morning. The biggest problem we face is there are so many voices trying to get our attention right now. And that's why it's all the more important that we learn to focus on God's voice. In Isaiah chapter 13, verse 20, when it says, Your ears shall hear the word behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. That verse is reminding us that God will direct us in the way to go in our lives. Even in the hectic moments, when we're drowning in our worries or choices, God's voice will speak to us. It will be our compass, steering us towards the peace and purpose that He has for us. Throughout the Bible there are many examples of those who listened to God's voice and were transformed by it. In 1 Samuel chapter 3, we hear about Samuel himself, who God was speaking to in an audible voice. At first he didn't recognize it, and so Eli told Samuel that when you hear this voice, respond by saying, Speak, for your servant is listening. Samuel learned to hear God's voice and to respond to it. Jesus addresses this kind of relationship in John chapter ten and verse twenty seven. Jesus says, My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. Here he's talking about a relationship type voice, where we hear him, we know him, and we learn to follow him when he gives us the direction that we need in our lives. I've never heard the audible voice of God, and I don't know anybody who has. So God rarely speaks to us in that audible voice, but he speaks to us in so many other ways. His most powerful way is to speak to us when we take time to listen. Psalm forty six ten says, Be still and know that I am God. It's those times when we are still, when we are set ourselves apart from all of the noise and the chaos around us, and we decide that we want to hear what God says and let him speak into our hearts, that he will speak to us. Quite often hearing God's voice requires that we are patient and we have our hearts tuned in to hear his whisper to us. And we need to learn how to tune in to that voice, know that it's God and listen to what he's saying. That's where our quiet time every day with God is so important. You see, you and I are the sum of the habits of our lives. Those habits should include spending regular time with God and listening to what he says to us through his word. And the only way to listen properly when we're in his word is to read it slowly. We need to take time to contemplate on what he's saying. This is where personally I do not attempt to read through my Bible in a year, because for myself I discovered that when I was on a reading plan to get through my Bible in a year, I was so focused on getting today's portion read and being able to put the little check mark beside it that I often didn't really absorb or listen to what God's Word was really trying to say to me. I would sooner take three years to read through the Bible and absorb more of it into my heart and into my life. And I think that's the best for all of us. Don't try to get through your reading, try to get what you're reading through to you and to your heart. Ultimately hearing God's voice comes down to this. Our lives must be focused on Christ, on what he wants from us, about what he wants to do for us and with us. He will give us the wisdom and the strength to make great decisions during our day, and no matter what our job is, if you're a housemaker or a mechanic or a teacher or a salesperson, whatever your job is, God will give you the strength and wisdom to do it more effectively and will give you peace and wisdom throughout your day when we are able to hear his voice speaking to us. And this is what God has for us, and this is why it's so important that we listen to what God says. So be encouraged this morning. God is wanting to speak to you right now, even if you feel you haven't heard him for a while. God is speaking to you. He wants to work in you, he wants to speak to you, and he wants to encourage you. So be blessed, my friends. God is with you. So keep the faith. Have a great day. Thank you for joining us today. And I invite you to join us every Monday to Friday, right here at Starting Right with Danny Mack.