Whisper - part 3 - Tone

I wanted to start this post off with a story. At church a couple of weeks ago I was teaching the 4th and 5th grade students and we were talking about how to hear God's voice. Sound familiar? One of the small group leaders called me over and told me something that was really cool to think about.

The group he was with was talking about how dogs understand us and how they don't really understand everything we say to them, but they can recognize our tone. They can tell if we are happy with them or upset with them. So what does that have to do with hearing God's voice??

It's all in the tone!

Many people believe that God is the all-powerful being that shouts from the heavens at people and in some cases in the Old Testament that is what He did. But God doesn't shout from the heavens - in fact we can see the tone of voice that God does use in 1 Kings 19 when God talks with Elijah.

“The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks 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 came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave."

- 1 Kings 19:11-13a NIV

Why does He speak in a whisper?

He wants us to lean in

When someone comes up to you and says "Hey, I have a secret to tell you" - what do you do? You usually get closer together so you can hear what they need to tell you. They certainly aren't going to shout it! It's a secret.

God wants us to do the same. God wants us to lean in and hear His words.

He is close

The Bible tells us in the book of Psalms:

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted..." - Psalm 34:18a NIV

If anyone knew what it was like to feel broken, defeated, stressed, anxious, well you get the idea - it was David. David penned some good words from the heart in the book of Psalms. He let his feelings be known. But he also knew that God was ever present with him.

In the gospel of John, we see Mary Magdalene come face to face with Jesus after His resurrection. You see she had just witnessed Jesus' death and all that was before it and in John 20 we find her coming to pay her respects to Jesus. When she gets to the tomb, she finds it empty. So she goes to the disciples and tells them that Jesus’ body is gone and she can't find where they had taken the body. After the disciples run to the tomb and see the same thing and offer really no help to Mary Magdalene - they returned to where they were. [1]

So after they leave, Mary is left there at the tomb. She asked by two angels why she is crying and she says to them:

“'They have taken my Lord away,' she said, 'and I don’t know where they have put him.'" - John 20:13 NIV

She is then approached by Jesus himself and He asks her the same thing and she responded in the same way. She probably just started talking and talking and talking. Then finally when she stopped and was quiet, Jesus simply whispered "Mary". [2]

Quiet

You need quiet to hear a whisper and let's face it - life is LOUD!

People talking. People weighing in their thoughts. People needing things. Going here and going there. All the noise. Should I do this or that? I need to get this done. You get the idea…

Life is loud.

God’s voice didn’t come from all the noise to Elijah – it came in a whisper.

This is why we need to find our quiet place. A place there we can go to hear the voice of God - a "whispering spot" if you will. [3]

Moses couldn't hear the voice of God in Egypt with all of the “noise”, so God brought him to the wilderness and talked to him there. [3]

Jonah was in the belly of a fish. I don't know if it's quiet in the belly of a fish - I have never been in the belly of a fish - but that is where God spoke to him. [3]

God is always talking, but if it's a whisper, then we need to get in a place where it's quiet so we can hear what He is saying and hush.

Find your "whispering spot" and lean into the whisper of God.

__________________________

1] John 20:1-10, NIV

2] John 20:16, NIV

3] Mark Batterson, Whisper: How to Hear the Voice of God (New York: Multnomah, 2017)
3] referencing the stories found in Exodus 3 + The Book of Jonah 
Credit for the image used in this post goes to National Community Church https://theaterchurch.com/media/whisper
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