Hearing God: 4 Simple Steps to Get Close to God and Hear His Voice
Hearing God: Four Steps to Get Close and Hear God's Voice
Do you need an answer from God? Or, are you trying to learn how to hear His voice? In this message, Joel Wolski teaches from Moses’ experience with the burning bush. He shows us how to apply this process of connecting with God to our own lives so we can learn how to hear directly from God.
About the Speaker:
Joel Wolski has been a passionate follower of Christ for over 30 years and serves on the Board of Faith Chapel. He is dedicated to living and sharing a Christ-filled life. Through the years, he has also been both a student and leader in Bible studies. His greatest desire is to help others grow in their identity in Christ. Also an avid photographer, you can follow Joel on Instagram.
Hearing God Requires Effort—Here’s How
Learning from Moses’s Steps: From last to first
Moses heard from God in one of the most recognizable events recorded in the Bible. What was it that led him to this place where GOD spoke to him from a burning bush and what can we learn that may help us hear more from God?
‘Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”’ (Exodus 3:1-4, NIV).
We’ll examine these verses “backwards,” while stopping to look at a few of the “landmarks” along the way. So often I find we can become so familiar looking at things from one direction, that approaching them from a different direction can reveal further insight. Since we now know where Moses IS, we can retrace his steps to learn how he got there.
Let’s look at the steps Moses took in reverse order.
The last thing Moses did was say “Here am I.”
Moses said “here am I” in response to God’s call. It was an acknowledgement of hearing God, an announcement that he was ready to listen.
We can’t listen if we’re always talking. Speaking to God in prayer is important, but a relationship can’t be built when only one side is doing the talking. There comes a time to listen. This is important because you need to understand where the path leads before you embark on the journey. Before you begin, you should first be willing to listen.
Are you ready? To open yourself up to what God has to say? To be quiet in His presence? To listen? Because that’s where this is leading.
Moses Paid Attention to What God Was Doing.
“Moses thought, ‘I must go over and look at this remarkable sight.’” (v. 3). The seeing that is referenced here isn’t what’s important, the looking is what matters.
God didn’t get Moses’ attention with words, but with actions. When you get your eyes off what you are doing, you can see what God is doing. “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush.” (v. 4).
When you are paying attention to what God is doing, you can hear what God is saying. For Moses it took a burning bush to get his attention; what gets your attention?
Maybe you see what God is doing, but is there something in your life that is preventing you from looking—paying attention to God? Work, family, politics, a pandemic? What can we do to change this?
How do we get ourselves to where we can actually look at what God is doing? We follow along with what Moses did.
Moses Went to the Far Side of the Mountain; Away From People, to God.
Moses led the flock to the far side of the wilderness, the mountain of God (v. 1). Moses didn’t go to the middle of nowhere. He went to the far side of nowhere, away from people. But more than that, he went where God was. In short, go where God is, and people aren’t.
You have to get away from the distractions.
“But I’m busy with work.”
“My family needs me.”
“The people I minister to need me.”
“If I don’t do this thing, it won’t get done.”
“I can’t get away from my distractions because the distractions demand my attention.”
This is why it’s so important to get away. All these things, as important as they may be, are potentially also the very reasons you are distracted from seeing what God is doing and thereby hearing what He is saying. But they are also the very things that make it most important for you to hear God’s voice. You can’t take care of others if you don’t allow God to take care of you.
Throughout the rest of Moses’ life leading the Israelites through the wilderness, he would periodically go off by himself to talk with God. He needed to hear from God in order to lead, even if those he led didn’t understand his absence.
Repeatedly throughout the Gospels we learn that Jesus would regularly withdraw from the crowds and His disciples to go off alone in order to hear from His Father. It was in this way that He was directed in His ministry; the One who was God felt it necessary to go off alone, to be with God. Who are we to think ourselves any different?
Get closer to God: hearing God in 4 simple Steps
This is not a way to influence God into speaking to us. He does not need our influence. I believe God is already eager to talk to us, and this is one spiritual practice that can help us hear what God is saying. So let’s go over all this again from the beginning.
Step 1: Get Away
Moses got away from people by going to the far side of the wilderness.
Where can you go for quiet and solitude? Maybe a walk around the neighborhood, hike in the woods, or a trip to the spa, your garage. Any place you can find that is quiet and closed off or away from others.
Step 2: Get Alone
He also went to where God was by going to His mountain.
Where do you feel close to God? Perhaps a sacred building or place—such as a church, or simply somewhere you heard from God in the past? Maybe just being surrounded by God’s creation brings you closer to Him.
Step 3: Pay Attention
When he saw what God was doing with the burning bush, he looked closer and paid attention to it.
What has God been doing around you that you need to pay closer attention to? This is so varied and potentially personal. Perhaps it’s the color in the sky as the sun is setting, or hearing a baby laugh and wondering, “who taught them what was funny?”. Maybe it’s getting caught up in the sheer extravagance of God’s creation.
Step 4: Be Ready to Listen
When Moses heard God calling out his name, he acknowledged that he was ready to listen.
Are you ready to listen to what God has to say? This could be the most difficult part because it requires us to actually listen, not just hear. It can be especially difficult for introverts, like me, who must first quiet the inner voice in order to hear God’s voice.
And a reminder: God may tell you something you don’t want to hear. He instructed to Moses to go to Pharaoh to bring the Israelites out of Egypt (v. 10). Moses asked God all kinds of questions, basically saying that he wasn’t the man for the job and didn’t want to do it. But Moses eventually came around because God met every question with an answer that Moses couldn’t poke holes in. We can learn from Moses’ mistakes as well as his successes.
What does this look like in real life?
For you? I don’t know. This is where your journey of hearing God, getting closer to God begins—or continues if you’re already been on this path. This will be different for everyone: how easy it is get away from distractions, where you go to meet God, what God does to get your attention—that is unique to you.
But as an example I’d like to share what this looks like for me. My camera is how I get away from people, and nature is where I find God. On January 1 of this year, I went for a hike in the Marin Headlands, an area just north of San Francisco in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. I spent half an hour or so exploring the eucalyptus trees surrounding the parking lot, looking for interesting patterns in the bark.
I was listening for God’s voice.
This is what I saw: a tree in the parking lot with the bark cracking and breaking. This is what it looked like to the naked eye. But God showed me more.
Marin Headlands, Photo © 2021 Joel Wolski.
This edited image of the same tree shows what I saw that day. This is what I heard from God:
“The old is holding you back from growing. Inside is life; full of energy and promise, but the rigid old ways need to give way and fall to the ground. They protected you for a season, but you are stronger now. It's time.”
Marin Headlands, Photo © 2021 Joel Wolski.
The bark that protects this tree, as the tree grows, has to give way. The old has to give way in order for the new to be revealed. This was a good way to start the new year, especially following a year so tragic as 2020. This is what I needed to hear from God. And this tree is how He showed me.
My Hope is that you’ll get closer to God through these steps
My greatest desire is that you would hear from God, not what I or someone else has heard, but that special thing that you need to hear, right where you are. And I hope these steps we’ve learned today will help you to achieve just that.
Suggested Praise and Worship
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