Falling on Deaf Ears
Saturday, April 25th, 2015 8:00pm

For anyone who is a long time Believer in Jesus Christ, I'm sure we've all heard about or read 1 Kings 19:12 which says that God spoke to Elijah (and by inference, us as well) in a still, small voice. Many of us have also likely experienced that still, small voice from time to time ourselves. And let me tell you, it's definitely very quiet. So quiet, in fact, that if our lives are even the least bit cluttered or noisy, we won't hear it. But I think there's another situation that causes us not to hear God's voice.

And that is what some have referred to as "me-ism". IE, an unhealthy focus on self. So if one is not paying close attention, or they're not close to the speaker, they won't hear what is being spoken. This is especially true when it comes to the ways that God speaks to us.

Case in point. Earlier today word of the 7.8 earthquake that rocked Nepal and India spread around the world like wildfire. Thousands are reported dead, lots of buildings and structures flattened or destroyed, infrastructure damaged, and many things far, far worse than even that. It was a terrible tragedy. But I think it was a lot worse than it needed to be. Why do I say that? Well, while I was doing my normal daily research, something crossed my path that I thought was very interesting, and really spoke to what I'd been seeing the past few days, yet not properly perceiving.

God was trying to get our attention.

What do I mean by that? Well, starting about Monday or Tuesday of this week, myself and a number of others online began to experience a strong, heavy weight or burden of sorts on our souls. There was no finger or any piece of clear evidence pointing to this or that happening, or even that something terrible was coming. It was just a plain old heaviness, almost like a depression, an ache in our souls if you will, and many expressed this feeling. Yet nobody did anything about it.

Then came the earthquake. But that's not the most important part of this. It's what we didn't do that is the primary concern. Allow me to explain. While reporting on this earthquake via his Facebook timeline, TD Hale, an Ohio pastor famous for four prophetic dreams about the fall of America (if you haven't read them, you really need to as their message is important), pointed out something very interesting that'd happened to him. About the same time in the week when I and others began getting that odd feeling of heaviness and depression, he in turn began feeling a pull on his spirit dealing with India. This is what he said:

"I've had India on my heart for a few days. Oddly, I thought about it so much I told one of my buddies to take me to an India place to eat. I almost even posted that I need to take a trip to India but I figured it was just me. I should of been praying." - TD Hale

He tells us in this message that he should have been praying. Think about that. God spoke to him (actually, He spoke to all of us, but we didn't hear it as clearly as Pastor Hale did) and put India on his heart. For those who don't know, Nepal is directly north of India and they share a common border. As a result India felt that earthquake just like Nepal did, although not quite as severely. But it still got their attention. Now take a look at what he said and really think about it. What he heard was God's still, small voice talking to him, trying to get him to pay attention and pray for the people who were about to be injured, killed, maimed, left homeless, and worse in this earthquake.

Yet what was the first thing ALL of us did. Not just him, ALL OF US. We immediately looked internally for an answer to what'd been spoken to all of our hearts. We're all guilty of failing to properly not only hear God, but respond to Him. So don't blame Pastor Hale. The blame lies firmly with all of us. The only difference between us and him is that God was closer to him and thus he was able to more clearly hear that still, small voice even to the point of understanding some of the specifics of what was coming, and where, namely India. Even so, all of us heard from God in varying degrees and yet, instead of turning to God for the answer, or approaching Him in regards to what was being spoken to us, we instead selfishly looked inward towards ourselves for answers to what'd been placed on our hearts.

While I admit that all I felt was a heavy sadness, almost a depression of sorts, with no specifics or anything, I should have immediately taken that to the Lord. But I did not. Numerous others did the same. To me that would say that Pastor Hale is far closer to Jesus, better able to hear God's still, small voice than the rest of us, the fact of which we should be ashamed. But again it all comes down to that still, small voice. And for anyone who knows about people who speak quietly, you fully understand that, by necessity, you have to be both close to the person who is speaking quietly, and you have to listen well, and really pay attention. In regards to God's message about Nepal, we all failed at both of those necessities. God was speaking, but we weren't listening. At least not how we should've been.

To properly hear that voice, that still, small, almost tiny, quiet, whispering voice, we have to be very close to Jesus, which means not only a right relationship with Him, but also a very close walk as well. And I mean a very close walk. Obviously far closer than we have even now. With that fact in mind, think about this. How many blessings, or warnings, or messages from God have we missed because we either 1) looked instead to ourselves for answers, rather than God when He has spoken to us, and 2) are living lives far too busy and noisy to hear God's voice when He speaks? Again, I'm not pointing a finger at someone else's speck because my beam is far larger than anyone else's in this matter. Even so, all of us, regardless of how big it is, have a great big beam in our eyes that has deafened and blinded us to God's quiet, almost whispering voice.

While I'm both horrified and saddened at the news of what happened in Nepal, I'm equally saddened by the realization that I failed God, and quite spectacularly at that! My life was so noisy this week that I didn't hear His voice when He called out to me, and so self centered that I attributed what I was feeling, and what His Spirit had shared with me, to myself and my circumstances, and so utterly lazy as well that I simply accepted what was happening and didn't turn it over to God in prayer. In short, I failed God with gusto. And even though I'm not alone in this failure, I must both learn from this and accept that I failed, but also learn from it and ensure it doesn't happen again. As a point of plain fact, we all need to learn this lesson.

I fully believe that God speaks regularly into our lives, always in a still, small voice for a very important reason; a reason most of us don't realize. Were He to speak to us in a loud, booming, easy to hear voice, we wouldn't learn to quiet our lives, or to put our entire focus on Him. If He were to always speak with loud words and much trumpeting, we wouldn't learn to take our focus off ourselves and the world, and instead seek Him first, primarily, and always in our lives. I believe God speaks the way He does to force us to take the focus away from ourselves, and instead direct it towards Him first, then others second and ourselves last, thus keeping things in the proper order that they should be.

Because if we ourselves are first in our lives, pride rears its ugly head and sin isn't far behind. But if we put ourselves last, with God and others first always before ourselves, pride has no place in our lives, and humility reigns as it properly should allowing us to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. So through this experience I believe I have learned a lesson about life; a lesson I pray everyone who reads this article will also learn. God speaks quietly, and if we are to truly follow Him, we should always seek to quiet our lives, quiet our minds, and put Him first in everything, and when we do, we will then be able to properly hear from Him as we should.

So in closing, I would like to say to the people of Nepal that I want to greatly apologize for my failure to listen to God as I should have. Had I and others listened as we should, we would've heard God's call to pray for you, and as a result many prayers would have been lifted up on your behalf. And had we done such, I believe it's possible that this disaster wouldn't have happened to you. For that we ask your forgiveness, and promise in the future to seek God first in all things, and to put Him first place in our lives more and more every day until that tiny whisper becomes a strong and mighty voice that we not only can hear with great clarity, but whose words we'll follow with military like discipline.

And to you, friend, who is reading this, if you are one who often complains that you do not hear from God, let me ask you this. Where is God in your life? Is He at the very forefront of everything, or is He merely relegated to your shirt pocket or the back closet, only pulled out and used when you need something done that you otherwise can't do yourself? Keep God at the forefront of everything, and God will speak to you in ways you've never experienced. But remember, in order to hear that still, small voice, you first have to be listening, and paying attention.