Hearing God’s Voice

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

~Exodus 3:4 NLT

The SCREECH was unmistakable. Only years later would I equate it with hearing God’s voice.

One thing I’ll never forget from my childhood is the sound of the spring stretching on the old wooden screen doors. Nor the sound of it slamming shut, wood against wood, when it was released. It was enough to rattle walls and crook pictures hanging on any nearby wall.

My maternal grandparents lived in an old farmhouse with three access doors: one in the kitchen, one at the end of the front hall, and one exiting the back porch. But the one we two cousins used most frequently led from the kitchen to the wrap-around porch. And it has a screen door.

Like most young boys in this period—who had no techy marvels to occupy their minds and time—we stayed outdoors most of the time. And like most young children, we were in and out between inside and outside games. I heard the SCREECH more times than I can remember.

But we also heard the straining of the spring on other occasions. Grandmammy would open that screen door to call us for lunch or supper. She’d also open it if she hadn’t heard from us in a while and wanted to know if we were okay. But then there was one more time when we heard that SCREECH for an extended time: when we were into some devilment, and she needed to correct us.

As we planted our seeds of mischief, the SCREECH began quietly. Then, it grew ever louder as the spring stretched to its limit. Then, the holler: “What you boys doing?” Our grandmother’s voice always accompanied the screeching sound in good times and bad.

Moses also heard a voice—God’s. God had listened to the hundreds-of-years-old cries of his enslaved people and was now ready to deliver them. He spoke to Moses from a burning bush and told him to approach the pharaoh with the order to release God’s people.

As a spiritual person with a deep religious history, Moses positioned himself to hear God speak. As rambunctious boys, we were also typically close enough to hear our grandmother call. Like Moses, when we remain close enough to God through regular spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, and fellowship with other believers, we’ll hear God when he calls.

What God calls us to or convicts us about is as varied as we are, but hear Him, we will. We must. He will speak through the still, small voice of His Spirit within us. He will move us either forward to His will or away from things that damper His purpose for us.

Make sure you are close enough to God to hear Him speak. Don’t miss his best.

Martin Wiles

Martin Wiles lives in Greenwood, SC, and is the founder of Love Lines from God. He is a freelance editor, English teacher, pastor, and author. He serves as Managing Editor for both Christian Devotions and Vinewords.net and is an instructor for the Christian PEN (professional editor’s network). Wiles is multi-published author. His most recent book, Grits, Grace, and Grands, is available on Amazon. He and his wife are parents of two and grandparents of seven. He can be contacted at [email protected].

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