When You Can’t Hear God’s Voice: What If He’s Been Speaking All Along?

When we find ourselves in the moments of not knowing where to go, it can be hard to discern God’s voice. And sometimes, in our longing for answers, we miss what He’s already saying. But the more time we spend in God’s Word, the more we come to know His heart—and the more we learn to recognize His voice. It’s one of the reasons our family so loves the beautiful Bibles from Tyndale, especially the NLT. Evie Polsley, a member of the Tyndale Bible Team, understands how our longing for what’s next can sometimes cause us to filter out God’s voice. She loves helping people discover the importance of reading Scripture with a humble and open heart and then finding ways to take what the Holy Spirit is teaching them and live it out in the world. It’s a joy to welcome Evie to the farm’s table today…

Guest Post by Evie Polsley

You could hardly breathe this summer without hearing someone talking about Christopher Nolan’s version of the Odyssey.

IMAX theaters were sold out for weeks. Instagram feeds were filled with trailers and interviews with the cast. Since my husband is a huge Christopher Nolan fan, we, too, were lured in by the siren song of this epic poem on the big screen.

For me, this film sparked something inside me, but it was not from the heroic battle scenes or incredible videography. It was a quiet moment when Odysseus is speaking to the goddess Athena and says, “We don’t understand you. We don’t know what you want.” She replies, “Do you not understand thunder and fire? Do you not understand famine and pain?”

How different the true God of the universe is from the false gods we create for ourselves.

God wants to be in relationship with us not just for our worship and service.

He wants us to know who he is and how great His love is for us. But I know I have so many times where, like Odysseus, I continually tell God, “I just don’t understand.”

I think often we are looking for signs and wonders and we miss how God is already and consistently revealing himself to us.

Still, God continues to pursue us, finding way after way to stay connected to his people.

In the very beginning, God gives a warning.

“The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the LORD God warned him, ‘You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.’” Genesis 2:15-17, NLT

“I think often we are looking for signs and wonders and we miss how God is already and consistently revealing himself to us.”

Instead of listening, we think we know better, and we become distracted by what’s around us. Even still, God doesn’t wash his hands of us. He continues to reveal himself.

At Mount Sinai, God gave instructions on how to live in relationship with him and each other.

“Then Moses went down to the people and repeated all the instructions and regulations the LORD had given him. All the people answered with one voice, ‘We will do everything the LORD has commanded.’” Exodus 24:3, NLT

Instead, we doubt God and turn to and our own desires. So, God sends the prophets.

“The LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8, NLT

Do we listen? No.

Does God give up on us? No. What does he do?

“The Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” John 1:14, NLT

God becomes human.

“Do I want to understand what he is telling me or where he is leading me?“

Jesus is fully human and fully God walking among us, bringing healing and also teaching us through stories and his example. But is that enough? No—we still say we don’t understand. He is not what we expect and doesn’t meet our expectations, so we kill him.

Still God doesn’t give up on us! Jesus is raised from the dead and gives himself as the Holy Spirit to live within us, guiding and speaking to us. To be an advocate for us.

“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Hebrews 8:10, NLT

“If our hearts have not been changed, following God’s rules will be unpleasant and difficult. We will rebel against being told how to live. The Holy Spirit, however, gives us new desires, helping us want to obey God. With new hearts, we find that serving God is our greatest joy.” Hebrews 8:10 (note from the Life Application Study Bible)

As I reflect on all these passages, I wonder when I have my moments of not understanding if it is that God has hidden himself from me or that I try to hide myself from him. Do I want to understand what he is telling me or where he is leading me?

“Are we trying to understand God from a changed, open heart or are we making him into a false god, an image of what we want him to be?“

God gave us Scripture not just to read and study but as a way of understanding who is he is and his love for us. As we read and study God’s Word, our relationship with him deepens so we can apply his Word to our lives and better discern his will because we know more of who he is.

Are we trying to understand God from a changed, open heart or are we making him into a false god, an image of what we want him to be?

In Jeremiah 29:13, God says, “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” No matter what we are facing, not only can God be found, but he is actively pursuing us.

“Although the exiles were in a difficult place and time, they did not need to despair because they had God’s presence, God’s powerful sovereignty, the privilege of prayer, and God’s grace. God can always be sought and found by those who seek him wholeheartedly. Strange and hostile environments, sorrows, frustration, and physical problems cannot break our communion with God.” Jeremiah 29:13 —Note from the Life Application Study Bible

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