Hearing God's Voice

Dad and I were driving by a friend's house and decided to stop in and see them.  He told me before we got there that we would only stay for a few minutes but that we could stop in and say hello.  Once inside and after greeting everyone, the children tugged on my arm to come look at their treasures.  I followed behind them, oohing and aahing over their things, much to their delight.  After a few minutes of listening to the children's excited chatter, Dad called from downstairs, signaling it was time to leave.  I let the children know.  

"How did you hear him, " one of the children asked me....Obviously, they had not.

Hmmmm...how had I heard him?  The children had all been talking at once, Dad hadn't yelled, he only said it once, and no one else heard him besides me.  Then the thought came to me that the reason I had heard him so clearly over all the other noise was because I had been listening for him.

How many times does our Heavenly Father call us, but we can't hear Him because we aren't listening for His voice.  How often do we feel like He isn't speaking to us anymore, when really it's because we aren't "tuned" to Him?  We concentrate so much on the "chatter" of life that we can't hear His still, small voice beckoning to us, drawing us unto Himself.  I heard my Dad's voice because I was ready and waiting for him to call.  What if I were always ready and waiting for God's voice like that?

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."  

-John 10:27


"Then He said, 'Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.' And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.  So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.  Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?'."
1 Kings 19:11-13

God doesn't always speak in a booming voice from heaven, nor does He always leave writing on the wall.  Sometimes He comes to us in a whisper, expecting us to hear Him.  Are you able to hear past the wind and the earthquake and the fire to hear Him when He speaks softly?