Are You Listening?

Once I helped my wife to bed last night and got her all snuggled and tucked in, I sat down on my bed next to hers and just quietly looked at her while I reminisced in my thoughts about our past together.  With a hint of fascination I slightly turned my head to the side and gently stated… “You know Honey, it is kind of uncanny that you and I seemed to have had an almost instant trust in each other from day one!  It was like we really ‘knew’ each other from the start and were not afraid to share our most intimate and private thoughts with each other.”

I learned pretty quickly that Piper’s ‘voice’ was one that I could always depend on for encouragement, knowledgeable insight in just about all the natural situations we faced as husband and wife as well as with the raising of our kids, a good laugh, sound Biblical wisdom and anointed spiritual discernment.  But let me explain what I mean when I talk about her ‘voice’.  It is not just the physical tone and pitch of her heard voice, but in particular the inner ‘voice’ of a strong and loving women of God whose very presence in a room could turn an uncomfortable situation into one of peace and restoration.

Sometimes she wouldn’t even have to actually say anything before I knew her answer, her thoughts, the scripture she would share and then experience the peace and joy that she has always brought to me.  I guess you could say that this is how we communicate today with the advance of Alzheimer’s.  Do I miss hearing the unique intonations of her sweet voice?  YOU BET I DO!  I went into our study yesterday afternoon and played back the message we had recorded together many years ago on the old answering machine we used before the onset of voicemail… just to hear her wonderful sound again!

But just because she doesn’t talk through her lips anymore (at least for now) that doesn’t mean that we don’t communicate.  I still hear that ‘inner voice’ that I just mentioned.  I’ve heard it said that when people lose the use of one of their senses that they learn to develop and trust the other senses to make up for the loss.  Well, I guess that is what has happened in our case!  Like I’ve said over and over again, she and I have come to intimately know each other so well that we don’t even need to verbally communicate in order to meet the other’s needs or do what we know is best or most pleasurable for the other.

Our now familiar scripture in Proverbs 3:6 in the Message Bible talks about how we need to “Listen for GOD's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track.”  When I read this I immediately realize that the writer is encouraging us to continually “give ear to him.” (Bible in Basic English)  I would think that it could be likened to a well-trained soldier who goes into enemy territory on patrol and stays alert and in constant awareness of the sights and sounds around him (or her).

Over the last ten years I have become very in tune to my wife’s current health baseline.  Even at night I can tell when her breathing changes or any other noises or movements that may signify a change and/or a potential need.  I hope that I can say the same thing about my hearing the ‘voice’ of God at any point be it day or night. 

The new hospice Nurse Practitioner was asking me the other day if Piper still recognizes me and I reported how on most days I can still recognize the signs of acknowledgment in her eyes and/or slight changes in facial expressions.  I told her how it really seemed strange to me when family back home in California would say that she didn’t recognize them when I could clearly see the glint in her eyes, or the subtle change in her facial expressions when she looked at them.  But as I look back now, I understand it was because they didn’t ‘know’ the ‘inner voice’ of Piper as I do!  They were dependent on her physical voice and even though they were family to her, they never took the time to develop a line of communication with her ‘inner voice’.

And that is my thought for this post today.  How well have each of us developed that line of communication between God and ourselves?  How well do we hear the ‘voice’ of God in the midst of the various moments of our lives, “in everything you do, everywhere you go;”

I’ve learned that it first takes our personal desire to want to know His ‘voice’ inside of you.  Then it takes a long term commitment to find and spend quality time alone with Him on a daily basis.  For some this may mean that you’ll have to take an inventory of your daily priorities and maybe make a few changes so that daily quiet times with God becomes a part of your schedule.  I also have to admit, that this will be a change that will make a most positive impact on your life!

So what do you think?  Are you ready to hear voices… in particular HIS VOICE?  (You really don’t want to hear just any voice!)  There is no better time than TODAY to make whatever changes might be necessary to develop the ability to communicate with the ‘voice’ of God in your daily lives.  Have a great rest of the week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “Who’s VOICE am I expecting to hear inside of me today?”