Can you hear God speak today?

This was our sermon topic two weeks ago. This question has been floating around in the back of my mind since this sermon. The question is not a general yes-or-no question about whether God can speak today, but a personal question. "Can *I* hear God speak to me today?" Our pastor is doing a series from the minor prophets and it has been good. The key verse was Habakkuk 2:20 "But the Lord is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him." This is contrasted with the lifeless idols that the people were trusting in. (see Habakkuk 2:18-19). Basically God is saying to us, "HUSH!" I think this is timely advice during the Advent season. There are so many voices we can listen to that can take the focus off Christ. We just need to HUSH! One of the pastor's closing points was that "so often we desire for God to hear what is on our hearts; we need to be silent before God to hear what is on his heart for us."

The sermon was followed by a testimony of a couple who clearly heard God speak to them and tell them to adopt a very high-needs little boy who has half a heart. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house when they talked about how following God's voice is not always the easiest choice, but the blessings are so enormous that they would make the same choice again.

And we followed this testimony with five minutes of silent prayer where we were instructed to just listen. Do you know how LONG five minutes seems in a quiet auditorium? But it made me realize how much of an agenda I bring to my prayer time. My list. My requests. My time. But, I rarely just listen.

So, I challenge you sometime this week..."HUSH!!" and be silent before him.