A man thinks his wife is losing her hearing. He tells his doctor about it and the doctor says he can do a little experiment to determine the severity, “Ask her a question from the next room in a normal tone of voice, and keep asking while coming closer until she can hear you. That way you know the range of her hearing.”
That night, he’s sitting on his easy chair in the living room while his wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner. He estimates he’s about 30 feet away. In a normal tone of voice, he says, “What’s for dinner?”
She doesn’t respond, so he gets up and walks to the kitchen doorway, about 20 feet away, and asks, “What’s for dinner?”
She still doesn’t respond so he walks 10 feet closer and asks, “What’s for dinner?”
She still doesn’t say anything, so he gets right up beside her and asks, “What’s for dinner?”
She says, “For the fourth time, chicken!”
If I were to ask you, “How have you heard God’s voice lately?” My guess is that many of you would say that you’re not sure God has been speaking to you or that you’ve had a hard time hearing God’s voice.
I want you to know that it isn’t because God has been silent. God speaks to us in a variety of ways. The real question is not, “Is God speaking?” but, “Are we listening?”
We have been studying the Lord’s model prayer in Matthew 6. Today, I want to depart from Matthew and examine an aspect of prayer we don’t discuss very often.
When we think of prayer, we usually think of worship or confession, giving thanks, or going to God for our needs or on behalf of others for their needs. But we don’t very often talk about listening to God when we pray.
Dr. Alfred Tomatis (1920 – 2001) – otolaryngologist (auto laryngologist) (ear, nose, throat)
After WW2, began studying workers who had hearing loss and vocal deficiency due to being exposed to airplane engines being built in factories. The study drew a parallel between those workers and opera singers who had difficulties singing certain notes. Using a sonometer, Dr. Tomatis discovered that even an average opera singer produces 140-decibel sound waves at a meter’s distance. That’s slightly louder than a military jet taking off from an aircraft carrier. And the sound is even louder inside one’s skull. Many opera singers loose their hearing because of the volume of their own voice. Because they loose the ability to hear certain frequencies they are no longer able to sing those notes.
Alfred’s discovery lead to understanding what is now call the The Tomatis Effect: “The voice only contains what the ear can hear” Your voice can only reproduce what your ears can hear.
This same principle is at work in us. If the goal of our faith is to become more like Jesus, then we need to understand that:
Our lives can only reproduce what we hear from our Heavenly Father.
This is why when we pray, we need to share our hearts with God and listen for God’s response. We call this listening prayer.
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How does God speak to us? The Bible describes several ways God has communicated with his human family over the years.
Sometimes, it was an audible voice. To Moses, it was in the midst of a burning bush. To Paul, it was a blinding light on the road to Damascus. In Romans 1, Paul writes that God has spoken to us through His creation. To King Belshazzar, it was handwriting on a wall. And to Balam, it was through a donkey.
One of the prophets that God would speak to in the Old Testament was the prophet Elijah. One of the stories that Elijah is best known for is his showdown with the prophets of Baal.
In Elijah’s day, 870-810 B.C., there was an evil king of Israel named Ahab. Ahab married a Sidonian princess named Jezebel. Ahab followed his wife, Jezebel’s practice of worshipping Baal instead of the one true God, Yahweh. Here it is in 1 Kings 16:
1 Kings 16:30-31 (CSB)—But Ahab son of Omri did what was evil in the LORD’s sight more than all who were before him. Then, as if following the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat were not enough, he married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and then proceeded to serve Baal and bow in worship to him.
The worship of Baal was heinous on so many levels. It included cultic sex practices, human sacrifice and even child sacrifice. Elijah continually called out Ahab for bringing Baal worship to Israel. So Elijah challenged all of the prophets of Baal to a showdown to show all of Israel once and for all the one true God.
1 Kings 18:19 (CSB)—Now summon all Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
You will set up an altar, and I will set up an altar. We will both offer sacrifices on the altars.
Whosever sacrifice is consumed by fire, we know that his god lives and is the true god of Israel.
You can read all about the showdown in 1 Kings 18. Dramatically, God consumes the sacrifice on Elijah’s altar. Everyone is stunned. Elijah then orders all of the prophets of Baal killed. And they are. Of course, word gets back to Jezebel about what has happened and she is not a happy camper. She sends a messenger to Elijah and basically says by this time tomorrow your life is going to end like the prophets you had killed.
So, what does Elijah do after this incredible confirmation of God’s power? He runs and hides because he is afraid of Jezebel. Weird, I know. But he runs and hides in a cave in the mountains, and he is all depressed and upset at God that he is now in this situation, fearing for his life.
1 Kings 19:9-13 (CSB)—Suddenly, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of Armies, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my life.” Then he said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the LORD’s presence.” At that moment, the LORD passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was a voice, a soft whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Suddenly, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
God’s voice wasn’t in the mighty wind, the earthquake, or the fire. Instead, God spoke to Elijah in a soft whisper.
Why a whisper?
We whisper when we want someone to “lean in”
We whisper when we have something important to say.
We whisper to those we are closest to—people we are Intimate with.
What is the one thing God wants from you? He wants you. He wants to have a relationship with you. Remember, He is our Abba Father
He wants us to lean in because what He has to say to us is important. His words are life from a loving father to his children.
His voice comes to us in a whisper so we have to lean in, we have to be quiet, we have to make an effort to hear. We need to develop the habit of listening for God’s voice in response to our prayers.
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What are some of the different ways God whispers to us when we pray?
Before we jump into some ways that God speaks to us, Let me say everyone of these ways God speaks could be a month of messages. To say we are just scratching the surface is an understatement. If you want to go a little deeper on this topic I’ll give you a resource you can get at the end of this message.
The first way God speaks to us is through His word.
His Word
God speaks generally to the church, but also to us personally, through His word.
Heb 4:12 (CSB)—For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
God’s word is powerful. But what makes it so powerful is the presence of the Holy Spirit in us.
Have you ever been reading your Bible and you are struck by how what you read is exactly what you needed to hear? It’s almost like God wrote those words just for you. That is God’s word, working with the Holy Spirit inside you.
In John 16:13-15, Jesus is preparing the disciples for His departure. He told them He was sending the Holy Spirit, and from that point on, the Holy Spirit would lead them into all truth. Jesus tells them, up to this point, you’ve been getting your truth from me, but from this point forward, it will be the Holy Spirit who teaches you.
In those moments you are reading or studying God’s word and it hits you like a ton of bricks or
God will never, ever, contradict His word when speaking to you, which is why it is so important to know it. If you think God is saying something to you, it will always line up with what He has already told you in the Bible.
Besides His word, what are some other ways the Holy Spirit leads us and speaks to us?
You’ll have to come back next week when we will talk about 5 more ways God whispers to us.
Let me simply leave you with this this morning: Spend some time in God’s Word this week. Go to a quiet place that is free from distraction and when you read, ask yourself, “What is God whispering to me?”
Chris Hankel 
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