Why not take a risk and begin searching?

Yesterday I shared an excerpt from my book, The Art of Listening Prayer; today, I share another excerpt:

Growing up in America isn’t easy; we’re a nation of skeptics. It’s easier to take potshots at something than it is to embrace it. We’ve been disappointed so many times, seen so many promises come to nothing. We’ve read the papers, every day hearing a new story of some naïve soul getting duped. And in our own lives, we’ve prayed a hundred times for something and not once did God reach down out of heaven to answer us. The idea that God speaks to humans, that in fact he may be speaking to you this very day, may seem to contradict your experience. It’s a wonder anybody is willing to consider the possibility! If you’re a skeptic, you’re in good company.

But if we’re honest, many of us will admit a couple of things. First, who wouldn’t want to be able to talk with their creator and hear him talking back? Wouldn’t that be the most wonderful thing imaginable? Don’t you hope against hope that it’s possible?

And second, this “personal relationship with God” that we as a Church advertise to nonbelievers may not feel very personal at all. Somewhere along the line you may feel as though you’ve been sold a bill of goods. We’re so saturated with doctrine that has little or no basis in our experience that we look and act like hypocrites. It’s time you face the issue; trifling with God doesn’t serve him – if our friends can see the unreality of our faith, then he certainly can.

So what if you could set your skepticism aside for a month and try listening for God’s voice, just like Moses did? Or Samuel, or David, or the disciples, or Paul, or many of Christendom’s greatest saints did down through history? What if they understood something that you’ve missed? And, what if God was just waiting to break out of the box you’ve had him in to show you that he does still talk to people and wants to talk to you?

You may not be that far away from it even now. Chances are you already do hear the Lord’s voice and just struggle to admit it. You may find yourself in the position of the woman who, when reflecting on her journey of faith said, “God used so many people to reach me over the years. Each time it seemed like God was saying, ‘I’m still here.’ It was obvious that running into these people was not a coincidence.”

Well, if it was as obvious as she says, then why doesn’t she just go ahead and give God credit for what he was saying through all those people? Why was she (and why are we all) so tentative in crediting God when he speaks?

Maybe God has been talking like that to a lot of us, but we’re just not listening. We don’t know how to listen. When he speaks, we say, “It’s almost as if he were speaking.” We don’t want to dishonor him by attributing words to him that he never uttered. But we never consider the disrespect of appearing deaf before the Almighty.

God has said in Scripture that he loves faith, that without faith you cannot please him [Heb.11:6]. He implores us over and over to seek him. Why not take a risk and begin searching for the still, small voice of God that may be speaking to you, even today?