Someone recently asked me what I thought about the voice of God. They began expressing their concern to me in a few questions. It was a little overwhelming, but with good reason: it’s a complicated topic.

The thing about the voice of God is that we think it isn’t around anymore. It was just an “Old Testament thing” and not something we should even think about anymore.

We couldn’t be more wrong.

Although not always audible, the voice of God is real and active. He has blessed us with the ability to choose which voice in our head we believe and respond to. We can select the voice of God that is working in our lives, but we must keep an open ear for it. We have a lot of thoughts to compete with it, so it is imperative that we take advantage of the ability to hear His voice. It is such a blessing that He loves us enough to speak to us on a moment by moment basis. It’s unbelievable that even when it gets noisy, and we can’t hear His voice, the Creator is still willing to do this.

The problem, however, is far too often not that God isn’t speaking, but that we are not listening. Life may be complicated and noisy, and we feel alone. We are busy chasing after other things because we think God is being quiet. We have other voices in our heads from our friends, our family, our entertainment, and ourselves. We listen to the dark parts of our thoughts, and we let these things clutter the sounds in our lives. Why isn’t God speaking to us? Why isn’t He shouting over the noise?

Why don’t we tone it down, so we can listen? God doesn’t have to shout over the noise when we are closer to Him. He spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice because He was nearby. Much like a relationship, the more we get to know someone, the more we trust them. It’s the exact same for our faith. The more time we spend with the Lord, the more we will trust Him. Trust brings people together. God speaks to us when we are close to Him. He doesn’t have to yell. When we think things are too quiet or absent, God speaks to us in this silence.

Get closer and just listen.