At any given time we are surrounded by so many voices and noises that it is often almost impossible to distinguish one from another. One voice that is almost missable amongst the many is the voice of God. It often seems to melt away amongst every other sound fighting for your attention.

How can we ever even be certain that we have heard from Him especially if His voice is not a familiar one? How can it ever be familiar? Let me try to answer from my own experiences.

If my child hears my voice she will know it is me speaking. In the same way, when I used to take my kids to crowded play areas, they would call me and amongst the many children all calling out “Mom”, I would be able to distinguish my girls’ voices from other children’s. Their tone, voice pitch and sound was that familiar to me that I knew it was them and not any other child.

What makes a voice familiar is the frequency that we hear it. The voices of people that I spend time speaking to regularly are the voices that I recognise immediately.

It’s the same with God. If I spend regular time with Him, I learn to recognise when He is speaking. He doesn’t speak in an audible tone -at least not to me-but I hear Him in other ways.

One thing that can block out the sound of His voice is stubbornness. I have often decided to do something out of stubbornness or rebellion that I knew was not a great idea – I deliberately blocked my ears to the voice of God and the voice of plain wisdom.

Fear is another thing that can cause us to be deaf to God’s voice. It is often fear that makes us follow wrong advice or to go against what we know is a better option. Fear of judgement, fear of time running out or even fear of the unknown.

I have happy memories of family seaside holidays. What we used to love doing was standing on the shore as one wave retracted while waiting for the next one. We would feel the sand shifting under our feet as we dug our heels in and at the same time we would look over our shoulders with great excitement as another big wave approached.

Your head tells you this wave is too big and is going to take me out but your heart tells you that you’re strong enough to withstand its force.

Here in South Africa, I think many are feeling the shifting sand beneath our feet. We see the mighty waves of destruction crashing around us and the many more coming at us but we dig in our heels in the hope that we can continue to stand indefinitely.

Surrendering to the wave is not an option. The only other choice is to run from the shore to the safety of the dry sand but that unfamiliar territory is as scary so we stand and wait to see what will happen next -year in and year out.

For many the voice of God to them said to stand their ground. Obedience in their case was their source of strength. Others are running in fear without any direction because all they hear is the pounding of their feet and their hearts as they do all they can to escape the chaos around them.

Who’s to say which are meant to stay and which are meant to leave? Each of us will hear a different instruction . Some are told to leave and replant elsewhere and others are told to take up the fight right where they are.

I cannot question what your instruction is but I ask this- where did it come from?

Selah.