Getting to Hear His Voice

I was again slogging through names in Chronicles a couple of weeks back when it hit me: if a loved one were sitting in the room, reminiscing over those names, I would listen, just to hear that loved one's voice. Have you ever missed someone far away and wished you could just hear his or her voice? You wouldn't complain about what the voice was saying; you'd be happy just to listen. That morning--and every day--I get to hear God's voice.

That thought resurrected some other thoughts that have helped me immensely through my Old Testament Bible reading. They started after hearing folks talking about reading Psalms and Proverbs day after day . . . after day after day. Sometimes they might dabble in the epistles or the Gospels, but rarely anywhere else. My mind began working: God is my friend. His Word is the whole Bible, of which Psalms, Proverbs, the epistles, and the Gospels are encouraging parts. Encouraging words, however, are just a portion of what friends speak to each other. If I only listened to my friends when they spoke encouraging words, how would they feel?

Sometimes my friends speak profound words, words that inspire and challenge me. But more often, they just talk. How honored would Gretchen be if I told someone, "Oh, Gretchen called today, but I didn't get anything out of it." I don't listen to my friends to get something out of them. I listen because they are my friends, and because I value our relationship.

How often do we approach God like a cosmic cassette player, playing the words we like, pausing Him when we like, and fastforwarding what we don't like? How much honor does that give Him? Wouldn't He get more honor by us just sitting down and listening to Him, listening to whatever He has to say each day, stirring or not?

Some days I don't understand why God says what He says. Sometimes He talks about bloody battles, sometimes about stubborn people. Some days He goes over lists of names that mean nothing to me. Sometimes my loved ones do that, too. My dad used to talk about ham radio. I didn't care a lot about ham radio, but I cared about my dad. So I listened. When we were in Norway, Craig told us some about his college classmates. Their paths will probably never cross mine; why should I care about who they are and what they look like and what they say? Because I care about Craig and enjoy the window into his world. If I told family members, "Skip to the inspirational stuff," I would insult them! "We're not trying to be inspirational," they might tell me. "We're just talking. Listen if you want to, and take a hike if you don't."

Do I honor God as much as my earthly friends and family? Of course God is more profound by nature than any human. Inspiration does lie in His every word. But sometimes I think we insult Him by picking and choosing the words we think are inspirational, as if He were a divine smorgasbord.

I've been able to enjoy the whole Bible so much more since He gave me this new perspective. I enjoy getting to know God through what He found important to put in the Bible. Have you ever realized how much of His character one can see through Leviticus and Numbers and the prophets? Leviticus and Numbers shout that He is orderly, pure, clean, holy. The prophets list oodles of things that make God angry. Flip those around, and one can gain a pretty good idea of what pleases Him.

Reading God's Word is all about knowing Him. Critics may trumpet, "Well, the Bible never says anything about such-and-such!" Maybe not specifically, but the Bible such a wealth of information about who God is, I think He wants us to learn what does and doesn't please Him. I don't recall ever hearing my father talk about dreadlocks. But because I know my father, I know intuitively that he wouldn't like them.

I wish everyone could find the joy of reading the whole Bible through. I have no criticism for those who read some Psalms or epistles each day, or for those who run to the Psalms and their Bible underlinings on crying days. Friends--including God--do speak encouraging words when we need them. But I don't want to limit Him to favorite Bible books or shut Him up when He wants to speak other things to me. Instead I want to revel in the privilege of getting to hear His Voice.