Search for God in His Word. The Lord assures us: “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). Where should we search for God? In His Word. In order to recognize God’s voice, we must “dig in” and take the time to study His word. How often? Not just here and there, or halfheartedly, but rather we must put our whole heart and energy into it. David said, “With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments” (Psalm 119:10). God speaks to us in His Word. Have you ever had an experience of reading a verse (that maybe you had read before), but this time something was different? This time, the verse fit right into your life and came “alive,” and at that moment and you know God is speaking to you through that verse. This is what is so beautiful about God’s Word—when we seek Him with our whole heart, we will find His answer(s).

Sometimes in this life, circumstances and events work out in a way that cannot be explained humanely. Events happen sometimes where people can’t explain how or why this happened. At times, from a human standpoint, we may only be able to say “What are the chances?!” or “It’s a miracle.” Romans 8:28 tells us that for those who love God, nothing comes by chance or luck, but rather it is “worked out” by God. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

How have you been able to recognize God’s providence in your life? How have you seen Him leading? Have you recognized that certain events were not only by chance, but that God was guiding and directing you and opening the way for you?

God says in Isaiah 55:8, 9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Before Jesus left this earth, in John 16:7, He told His disciples: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”

What is the work of the Comforter? The Lord explains that “the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26). [Emphasis added.]

As you study God’s Word and recognize God’s Providence, the Comforter will teach and guide you in the will of God. God always speaks through conscience to convict of sin (e.g., what is right or wrong). But how about for personal desires? God does speak through His Spirit for personal desires, but not as often as we think or would like to think.

Psalm 32:8 says, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” God instructs, teaches, and guides us in a unique and special way for the circumstances of our life with His own Spirit. Have you heard the Holy Spirit’s voice?

God’s voice is a still, small voice. It is soft, but brings a strong impression. God’s voice is usually only heard after much prayer and tears. When it’s God’s voice, we will know it 100% and recognize His voice without a doubt. When we listen to the Holy Spirit, “thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Isaiah 30:21).

What happens when we listen to God’s Spirit and obey it? Inspiration gives the encouraging words, “there is no limit to the usefulness of one who, by putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart, and lives a life wholly consecrated to God.”1

When you and I listen to God’s voice, there are limitless possibilities of what God can do through us!

Doing God’s will always brings peace. “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them” (Psalm 119:165). “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33). Peace—no confusion, no questions of “why did this happen or why did things go that way? Or why can’t it be different?”

You won’t have to question or ask anymore “if this is right.” If you are doing God’s will and His way, you will know it and will have peace. Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

The fifth step to recognizing God’s voice is that we must “slow down” and take the time to hear His voice. We may have to wait for it, but it will come. Isaiah 64:4 (NKJV) says “For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.” hear Him speaking to the heartWhen every other voice is hushed, and in quietness we wait before Him, the silence of the soul makes more distinct the voice of God[Emphasis added.] “We must individually . ”2

Lamentations 3:25 says “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.”

Let us learn from the experience of the prophet Elijah the importance of slowing down to hear God’s voice.

Elijah fled from Jezebel after the experience on Mt. Carmel and went to Jezreel that same night (25 miles or 40 km.). The next day, he took his servant to Beersheba and left him there. The distance from Jezreel to Beersheba is 100 miles or 160 km. From there, Elijah ran into the wilderness and was given food and drink by an angel. Then the Bible tells us in I Kings 19:8 (NKJV), “So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.”

After this, Elijah travelled 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Horeb, “the Mountain of God.” It was not an easy journey.

“And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? (1 Kings 19:9).

“[Elijah] was in a wilderness. At night he lodged in a cave for protection from the wild beasts.

“Here God, through one of His angels, met with Elijah, and inquired of him: ‘What doest thou here, Elijah?’ I sent you to the brook Cherith, I sent you to the widow of Sarepta, I sent you to Samaria with a message to Ahab, but who sent you this long journey into the wilderness? And what errand have you here?”3

“And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:10).

What’s the problem here?God promises to direct, but we must listen and wait patiently for His leading. We start thinking about me, myself, and I. “Poor me. Why does this have to happen to me”? Instead of thinking about ourselves, we must look to God and His unfailing love and power. “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Isaiah 30:21).

When Elijah was running away from God, he did not stop to listen. He did not stop to ask God what He wanted him to do or where He wanted him to go. Do you and I make the same mistake sometimes?

After God asked Elijah what he was doing there, a still small voice“He said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks 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 ” (1 Kings 19:11, 12).

The Hebrew word for voice still, small voice that is used here is kol d’mamah dakah. “Mamah” means quiet, still, whisper. God spoke to Elijah in a gentle, low whisper, and He still speaks to you and me the same way today.

Do you slow down to hear God’s voice? Do you stand still, stop, and separate from the things that crowd out His voice? Do you wait to see your redemption power of God and grace in your life? Our Heavenly Father calls us by the quiet movings of His Spirit. Do not drown out the Spirit’s promptings. The world drowns its conscience by activity, excitement, noise, but Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

An oft-related story is told as follows:

A young man and his father farmed a small piece of land. Several times a year they would load up a cart with vegetables and take them to the market.

The two had little in common. The son was a tense and ambitious individual, the go-getter type. The father, on the other hand, was steady and relaxed.

One morning they loaded the cart, hitched up the ox, and started out for the nearest city. The young man, true to his disposition, kept prodding the ox with a stick. He reasoned that they had a better chance of getting good prices if they reached the marketplace early.

Several hours down the road the father stopped. It was his brother’s farm, and he wanted to say hello, for so seldom did he have the opportunity. The son, of course, was impatient at what he considered a needless delay, and did not conceal his restlessness. But the father cautioned, “Take it easy. You’ll last longer.”

After an hour they drove on. They came to a fork in the road and the father turned to the right. “The other way is shorter,” the son reminded him. “Yes, son, but this way is more beautiful.”

“Have you no respect for time?”

“Yes,” said the father, “I respect it so much that I like to use it in looking at beautiful things.”

“At twilight they found themselves in country as lovely as a garden. The father suggested, “Let’s sleep here.” By this time the boy was angry, and he exploded, “You’re more interested in flowers than money!”

But the father quietly replied, “That’s the nicest thing you’ve said in a long time.”

“I’ll never take a trip with you again!” the boy vowed.

In the morning they were on their way early. Soon they came upon a cart in the ditch, and the father stopped to help while the son, of course, protested. “Take it easy,” said the father. “Sometime you might be in the ditch yourself.”

And then it was eight o’clock. There was a brilliant flash of lightning. And thunder. “Must be a big rain in the city,” said the old man.

“But, Dad, if we had hurried, we could have been sold out by now.”

“Take it easy, son. You’ll last longer.”

It was late afternoon when they reached the hill overlooking the city. The two men stood for a long moment, looking down. Neither said a word.

And then the son broke the silence. “I see what you mean, Father.”

They turned and drove their cart away from what had been, until eight o’clock that morning, the city of Hiroshima!4

The father and the son had a different set of values. The father had wisely learned that we are healingly distracted from the tensions of life by heeding the promptings of the still small voice. But how much the son missed! And how much we miss of life’s richest rewards! We hurl ourselves into life with such reckless abandon that we wring ourselves physically and spiritually dry.

Are we like the son, impetuous, impatient with a mind for material advantage? Deaf to the deep movings of God’s Spirit? The big question today is not if we can recognize God’s voice, but will we follow itWill we accept and obey it? ? We must listen to, and follow the promptings of the still small voice.

When you really want to recognize God’s voice, cry out to Him in prayer, and make sure you are 100% surrendered and consecrated to God. And if His voice is still not clear, then tell God it’s not clear and ask Him something like this: “Dear Lord, impress, convict, and build a burden in my soul for Thy will. Direct and lead me. Show me the indications of your providence to know 100% that this is Thy will. Please, give me your peace, Amen.”