A lovely young Christian  asked me this question so sincerely today, and I remembered with such fondness a time when I asked the Lord that same question–how could little old, wretched me possibly hear and discern what is the voice of the GOD of the Universe?? Little old me! And how I’ll never forget his beautiful and personal answer to my questioning heart. Please indulge me and allow me to reminisce this special lesson He gave:

One particular Sunday morning when I was about eighteen, in the days when I was too cool to sit by my mom at church, I sat with the other teens, and she sat all the way on the other side of the very large sanctuary. I had been quite seriously struggling with this issue of the guidance of God. How did I get it exactly? How could I know what HE wanted me to do? Where He wanted me to go? Whom He wanted me to marry someday? I was so confused. How could I know His voice from my own thoughts or from the voice of the one below? I was quite tortured by these questions at this particular juncture of my life. And for some reason on this day, I noticed all these whirring sounds in the room–hundreds of little sounds! Babies crying and moms shushing and teens whispering and notes passing and pages turning and pens scribbling and countless other little noises all over the room. Then suddenly I heard a sound which I instantly recognized–the sound of my mom quietly clearing her throat, all the way across the sanctuary. It occurred to me that it was the weirdest thing that I could recognize her little sound from across the room, and pick that sound out of the hundreds of other sounds begging for my attention. How could I tell it was my mom’s throat-clearing little noise? Because I’d lived with my mom for 17 years and heard her voice and her particular, peculiar noises thousands of times. On the day that I realized this, I remember so vividly the Lord speaking to me, “Lisa, that’s how you can know My voice. Abide in My Word. Live with Me in My presence. And then you will know My voice, and even know when I’m clearing My throat and am preparing to speak.” That was a powerful moment for me, which I’ll never forget, and which I remember every single time I consider the mysterious voice of God.

I am reminded today in recounting my testimony to a little sister in Christ that the only way to know His voice certainly is to LIVE WITH HIM. Our Father has given us exactly the place to meet him, and He has already spoken to us thousands and thousands of words in His Word. HE WILL MEET ME THERE, He reminds me today.