Do you ever question the voice of God? Not question God Himself, but question whether or not what you are hearing is from the Lord.

Many new Christians struggle with this. How do I know if it’s God? they’ll ask us. We explain that still, small voice. We give them the visualization of sheep mingling together but knowing which shepherd to follow when the command is given. We tell them to spend time talking with Him.

Just as baby learns to recognize his mother’s voice and grow to trust her to meet his needs, we learn to rely on the Lord early on in our Christian walk. In time, we can easily discern the Lord’s voice and we know when something is of Him and when it’s not.

So the day Molly* asked me if she will always doubt when she hears the Lord, I confidently told her no. She would grow and she would hear Him plainly.

And then I paused.

Do I always hear what He has to say? 

The answer was no.

But it wasn’t because I didn’t know His voice. It was because I didn’t always WANT to hear.

It reminded me of a day at the pool. I was lying on a raft reading a book with only one other person there. A couple of families came in with very noisy children so I put in my earplugs. (I mean, I normally love the sound of children squealing and playing…just not in the last few chapters of a mystery thriller.) I looped my heels into the pool edge wall away from everyone and was completely engrossed in my novel. A couple of hours later, about two seconds after I read the last page, I took out my earplugs and looked around.

There must have been 60 people in and around the pool!

I was so into my book that I hadn’t noticed or heard anything going on around me.

I was shocked! How can I have been out in the open and still oblivious to it all?

Simple. I didn’t want to hear anything. I wanted my alone time without distractions so I made sure that would happen by putting in the earplugs.

That’s what we do with the Lord sometimes.

We want to do our own thing and we don’t want to hear what He has to say to us. We put in our spiritual earplugs and then pretend that we can’t figure out what God is trying to say or do in our lives.

Get out of the pool, look around, and open your eyes and ears. Now is NOT the time to be flailing around in the deep end.

I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints…Psalm 85:8