Daily Archives: August 19, 2007

Last week I read an article about Moses and three writers. The author told the four stories parallel with a single connection: hearing the voice of God. He asserted that Moses heard God’s voice in the burning bush because he quieted his location and himself enough to hear God. The author went on to describe these three writers who also found enough quiet to hear God: one in the woods behind his house, one in her living room before the rest of the family awoke and one in her office, sitting before her computer.

Three consecutive nights after reading this article I had the same dream. I was running toward the beach. A long dock stretched out over the sea and the waves crashing on the sand below. I knew if I could just sit on the end of that dock, I would hear the voice of God. I gave my life to Christ when I was fifteen. There has not been a single day since then that I have not ached to hear – to audilby hear – the voice of God. I yearn for it with all my being, yet I just can’t seem to find that quiet place. My dream ended the same. I would be pulled away by some unseen force, never able to reach the end of the dock.

This weekend I had a girls’ night. That’s quite the special event for me! Rick watched the kids for the weekend while I took a rented car to Philadelphia for a party with some college friends. The long drive was great. I was psyched to be surrounded by silence. No kids in the back asking a million questions. No to-do list on the passenger seat. No groceries waiting to be unloaded. I turned off the radio and listened. Do you know what I heard? Arguments from the past. Quoted lines from movies I’ve seen a million times. Missed opportunities; things I should have said, but never did. I tried praying to refocus my mind. I would get a couple phrases out then be distracted by some driver or a clever billboard. The random static of my mind would resume. So here I am staring over my shoulder at the dock where I couldn’t sit. Why can’t I reach it?

I have no answers. All I know is that in times like these, when God seems intangible, I must remember the Truth of Him. Faith is not about the senses. It’s not about experiences as much as it’s about conviction. Hebrews 11:1 says “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” (NIV). I have never audibly heard the voice of God, but I know He’s there. I may not feel Him next to me at this moment, but I know He is here, ready and able to carry me through my current self-inflicted oppression. Now, if only I could learn to be still …