His Powerful Voice

There are a lot of interesting experiments being done right now in the world with sound waves.  Sound is being used to levitate objects and move them, as weapons for the battlefield, to fight environmental noise, and to power engines.  A new type of sound “acoustic luminescence”; that is, light being emitted from liquid under high-intensity sound is being worked with as well.  It is thought that it could lead to hundreds of different applications, from nuclear fusion to sewage treatment.  Apparently there is a lot more power in sound than I ever knew.  The maker of sound, God, has always known there was power in sound.  When He speaks, things come in to existence.  When He speaks, there is life.  His Word is powerful.  Beyond that just His voice is powerful.  Here are three verses that the Lord gave us in His Word to describe His voice:

Psalm 29:3

³ The voice of the LORD is above the waters. The God of glory thunders— the LORD, above vast waters,

Psalm 29:5

⁵ The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.

Psalm 68:33

³³ to Him who rides in the ancient, highest heavens.  Look, He thunders with His powerful voice!

What an encouragement it is to know that our God is powerful right down to His voice.  Nothing about Him is weak.  I have been out in the night air when it thunders and I am in awe of the intensity of volume it makes.  I have sat on the beach and been moved by the greatness of the sound of the rolling waves.  These beautiful and magnificent sounds drown out anything else I might be hearing at the time.  Then there are those moments when I hear the still small voice in my soul speaking to me.  Not another person can hear it.  Yet, it is powerful.  It is God’s mighty voice moving my heart.  I am encouraged that I have His powerful voice to listen to that drowns out the sounds of this world.

Obey His Voice

Warning labels and instructions appear on just about everything these days due to all the law suits that have taken place over the years.  There are so many warning labels and instructions now that most of us just ignore them.  Here are some of the reasons why tend ignore warning labels:

• “Do not use if you cannot see clearly to read the information in the information booklet.” — In the information booklet.
• “Caution: The contents of this bottle should not be fed to fish.” — On a bottle of shampoo for dogs.
• “For external use only!” — On a curling iron.
• “Warning: This product can burn eyes.” — On a curling iron.
• “Do not use in shower.” — On a hair dryer.
• “Do not use while sleeping.” — On a hair dryer.
• “Do not use while sleeping or unconscious.” — On a hand-held massaging device.
• “Do not place this product into any electronic equipment.” — On the case of a chocolate CD in a gift basket.
• “Recycled flush water unsafe for drinking.” — On a toilet at a public sports facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
• “Shin pads cannot protect any part of the body they do not cover.” — On a pair of shin guards made for bicyclists.
• “This product not intended for use as a dental drill.” — On an electric rotary tool.

Now these are pretty funny, but you have to ask yourself, “Why would these products have something so basic and stupid on their labels?”  Apparently, somebody didn’t use common sense when using their products and ended up getting hurt and suing them.  That is a pretty sad statement about our society or people as a whole.  Why don’t we follow instructions?  Why won’t we obey the warning labels?  Why won’t we listen to good advice?

You can see over and over again in the Bible stories of the people not listening to God and ending up in trouble as a result.  Being that God is all knowing, all loving and all powerful, don’t you think it would be logical for the creation (us) to listen to this magnificent creator?  Read Haggai 1:7-13.

⁷ The LORD of Hosts says this: “Think carefully about your ways. ⁸ Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house. Then I will be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD. ⁹ “You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought [the harvest] to your house, I ruined it. Why?” [This is] the declaration of the LORD of Hosts. “Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house. ¹⁰ So on your account, the skies have withheld the dew and the land its crops.  ¹¹ I have summoned a drought on the fields and the hills, on the grain, new wine, olive oil, and whatever the ground yields, on the people and animals, and on all that your hands produce.”  ¹² Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the entire remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. So the people feared the LORD. ¹³ Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, delivered the LORD’s message to the people, “I am with you” —the LORD’s declaration.

Here we find out the people had still not taken care of God’s house.  The people had been busy spending time on their homes and crops.  They were ignoring God’s voice.  They had not responded to Him and built His house and worshipped Him.  As a result, they were not blessed.  All that work they put in to their things was a waste.  God informs them of this to bring everything that had been going on in to focus.  Thankfully, this time they heard His voice and obeyed it. 

Unfortunately, to this day, even after all these Biblical examples, we still do not obey God’s voice when He speaks to us.  We need to use some common sense.  If we hear God’s voice, He is telling us something that will benefit us and glorify Him.  He is not just speaking to us to chat about the weather.  Therefore, we need to use common sense and obey His voice when He speaks.  Otherwise, like the people in Haggai’s account, we may find all our earthly work is in vain.

Voice Recognition

In two different movies, that I can recall over the last 30 years, “Oh God!” and “Bruce Almighty”, God has made an appearance to man in a form that would make him not to appear to be God Almighty.  In “Oh God”, George Burns (81 year old comedian at the time) plays the part of God.  He was small, old, smoked a cigar and wore a baseball cap.  He didn’t at all seem like what God would be like.  In “Bruce Almighty”, Morgan Freeman plays the role of God.  He was a smooth talking, calm, African-American version of God.  In both movies God used unusual methods to get the attention of the men they came to speak to.  They didn’t use the thundering voice from above to get their attention. 

This brings to mind the question, “What does God sound like?”  We are told to know His voice in John 10:3-5.  Do you know God’s voice?  Would you recognize Him if He speaks to you?  In that particular passage of John it says if we are his sheep (Christians) than we will know His voice.  In 1 Kings 19:11-13 we are told the account of Elijah hearing God’s voice.

¹¹ Then He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the LORD’s presence.”  At that moment, the LORD passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard [it], he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

Those two movies had something right about God’s voice.  God does not need to speak thunderously to us.  He can speak to us in whatever form He likes.  In this passage, we see Elijah experience great and mighty wind, an earthquake, and a fire.  All things that would shake us to our soul.  Things that seem impressive and bigger than life.  Yet, when it was all over it was the soft wisper voice that Elijah heard and recognized as God’s voice.  It was that still small voice that caused Him to wrap his face in his mantle and go out and meet with God.  He knew without a doubt that it was the Lord speaking to Him.  It was instant voice recognition.  He knew that he was in God’s presence and it was time to show reverence for His God and cover his face.

The more we spend time with God in prayer and in His Word, the more we will recognize His voice.  His voice will never contradict His Word.  We will know with confidence like Elijah that God has spoken to us.  His voice will quietly imbed itself in to our hearts.  His voice will draw us out to follow Him like the sheep follow the Shepherd or Elijah went out of the cave and stood.  This passage gives us a wonderful instruction to keep our heart’s ears focused on the Lord, so that we can hear that soft whisper that moves us in to His presence with instant voice recognition like Elijah.

Know His Voice

“Would you recognize a burglar if you saw one?”, was the opening line from an article on usalarmsystems.com website.  Good question.  The article gave 3 attributes from the profile of the typical American burglar:

1.        Burglars Are Young and Dangerous – Over two-thirds of all burglars commit their first break-ins between the ages of eleven and twenty-five.

2.       Family Life is Tough – Most burglars are unmarried, and many come from poor homes. But poverty is probably not the crucial variable. Violence in the family seems to be a more accurate predictor of deliquency than poverty alone.

3.       Do Drugs Increase Burglaries? – Yes! Out of all factors studied, drug use is most strongly associated with increases in residential crime. On average, 70% of all burglars use drugs within 24- to 48-hours of their crimes.

Other articles told of how to differentiate that the strange person in your neighborhood is innocent or really a burglar or told of how to make your house less of a target. Studies are done and classes are taught on these subjects to help law enforcement officers stop crime. 

Many times as humans we are much more interested in protecting our belongings or our homes, than we are of protecting our spiritual lives.  Jesus thought it was more important that we protect ourselves from being robbed spiritually.  He gave us words of advice in John 10: 1-5.

¹ ” I assure you: Anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the door but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. ² The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The doorkeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. ⁵ They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t recognize the voice of strangers.”

For us to recognize if we are being robbed spiritually, we need to know God’s voice, our Shepherd.  He is the one who loves us, cares for us and protects us.  Those who are not of God don’t love us or care for us and they are going to do whatever it takes to benefit themselves or rob us of what we have.  The enemy wants us useless for God.  They want us robbed of our joy and peace.  The enemy will come in through the back door or the window.  We may not even realize they have come in.  They catch unaware.  The way to protect ourselves is to only let our Shepherd in to our lives.  Make our spiritual homes less attractive or less of a target to the burglar.  We need to be regularly in God’s Word, serving Him and fellowshipping with other believers.  All these things will help us to know His voice.  We will recognize Him and only let Him in.  We are to avoid those things that draw the burglar in.  We are to run from temptation.  It is wisdom to know our Lord’s voice and follow Him only.

His Powerful Voice

There are a lot of interesting experiments being done right now in the world with sound waves.  Sound is being used to levitate objects and move them, as weapons for the battlefield, to fight environmental noise, and to power engines.  A new type of sound “acoustic luminescence”; that is, light being emitted from liquid under high-intensity sound is being worked with as well.  It is thought that it could lead to hundreds of different applications, from nuclear fusion to sewage treatment.  Apparently there is a lot more power in sound than I ever knew.  The maker of sound, God, has always known there was power in sound.  When He speaks, things come in to existence.  When He speaks, there is life.  His Word is powerful.  Beyond that just His voice is powerful.  Here are three verses that the Lord gave us in His Word to describe His voice:

Psalm 29:3

³ The voice of the LORD is above the waters. The God of glory thunders— the LORD, above vast waters,

Psalm 29:5

⁵ The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.

Psalm 68:33

³³ to Him who rides in the ancient, highest heavens.  Look, He thunders with His powerful voice!

What an encouragement it is to know that our God is powerful right down to His voice.  Nothing about Him is weak.  I have been out in the night air when it thunders and I am in awe of the intensity of volume it makes.  I have sat on the beach and been moved by the greatness of the sound of the rolling waves.  These beautiful and magnificent sounds drown out anything else I might be hearing at the time.  Then there are those moments when I hear the still small voice in my soul speaking to me.  Not another person can hear it.  Yet, it is powerful.  It is God’s mighty voice moving my heart.  I am encouraged that I have His powerful voice to listen to that drowns out the sounds of this world.

Obey His Voice

Warning labels and instructions appear on just about everything these days due to all the law suits that have taken place over the years.  There are so many warning labels and instructions now that most of us just ignore them.  Here are some of the reasons why tend ignore warning labels:

• “Do not use if you cannot see clearly to read the information in the information booklet.” — In the information booklet.
• “Caution: The contents of this bottle should not be fed to fish.” — On a bottle of shampoo for dogs.
• “For external use only!” — On a curling iron.
• “Warning: This product can burn eyes.” — On a curling iron.
• “Do not use in shower.” — On a hair dryer.
• “Do not use while sleeping.” — On a hair dryer.
• “Do not use while sleeping or unconscious.” — On a hand-held massaging device.
• “Do not place this product into any electronic equipment.” — On the case of a chocolate CD in a gift basket.
• “Recycled flush water unsafe for drinking.” — On a toilet at a public sports facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
• “Shin pads cannot protect any part of the body they do not cover.” — On a pair of shin guards made for bicyclists.
• “This product not intended for use as a dental drill.” — On an electric rotary tool.

Now these are pretty funny, but you have to ask yourself, “Why would these products have something so basic and stupid on their labels?”  Apparently, somebody didn’t use common sense when using their products and ended up getting hurt and suing them.  That is a pretty sad statement about our society or people as a whole.  Why don’t we follow instructions?  Why won’t we obey the warning labels?  Why won’t we listen to good advice?

You can see over and over again in the Bible stories of the people not listening to God and ending up in trouble as a result.  Being that God is all knowing, all loving and all powerful, don’t you think it would be logical for the creation (us) to listen to this magnificent creator?  Read Haggai 1:7-13.

⁷ The LORD of Hosts says this: “Think carefully about your ways. ⁸ Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house. Then I will be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD. ⁹ “You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought [the harvest] to your house, I ruined it. Why?” [This is] the declaration of the LORD of Hosts. “Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house. ¹⁰ So on your account, the skies have withheld the dew and the land its crops.  ¹¹ I have summoned a drought on the fields and the hills, on the grain, new wine, olive oil, and whatever the ground yields, on the people and animals, and on all that your hands produce.”  ¹² Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the entire remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. So the people feared the LORD. ¹³ Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, delivered the LORD’s message to the people, “I am with you” —the LORD’s declaration.

Here we find out the people had still not taken care of God’s house.  The people had been busy spending time on their homes and crops.  They were ignoring God’s voice.  They had not responded to Him and built His house and worshipped Him.  As a result, they were not blessed.  All that work they put in to their things was a waste.  God informs them of this to bring everything that had been going on in to focus.  Thankfully, this time they heard His voice and obeyed it. 

Unfortunately, to this day, even after all these Biblical examples, we still do not obey God’s voice when He speaks to us.  We need to use some common sense.  If we hear God’s voice, He is telling us something that will benefit us and glorify Him.  He is not just speaking to us to chat about the weather.  Therefore, we need to use common sense and obey His voice when He speaks.  Otherwise, like the people in Haggai’s account, we may find all our earthly work is in vain.

Know His Voice

“Would you recognize a burglar if you saw one?”, was the opening line from an article on usalarmsystems.com website.  Good question.  The article gave 3 attributes from the profile of the typical American burglar:

1.        Burglars Are Young and Dangerous – Over two-thirds of all burglars commit their first break-ins between the ages of eleven and twenty-five.

2.       Family Life is Tough – Most burglars are unmarried, and many come from poor homes. But poverty is probably not the crucial variable. Violence in the family seems to be a more accurate predictor of deliquency than poverty alone.

3.       Do Drugs Increase Burglaries? – Yes! Out of all factors studied, drug use is most strongly associated with increases in residential crime. On average, 70% of all burglars use drugs within 24- to 48-hours of their crimes.

Other articles told of how to differentiate that the strange person in your neighborhood is innocent or really a burglar or told of how to make your house less of a target. Studies are done and classes are taught on these subjects to help law enforcement officers stop crime. 

Many times as humans we are much more interested in protecting our belongings or our homes, than we are of protecting our spiritual lives.  Jesus thought it was more important that we protect ourselves from being robbed spiritually.  He gave us words of advice in John 10: 1-5.

¹ ” I assure you: Anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the door but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. ² The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The doorkeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. ⁵ They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t recognize the voice of strangers.”

For us to recognize if we are being robbed spiritually, we need to know God’s voice, our Shepherd.  He is the one who loves us, cares for us and protects us.  Those who are not of God don’t love us or care for us and they are going to do whatever it takes to benefit themselves or rob us of what we have.  The enemy wants us useless for God.  They want us robbed of our joy and peace.  The enemy will come in through the back door or the window.  We may not even realize they have come in.  They catch unaware.  The way to protect ourselves is to only let our Shepherd in to our lives.  Make our spiritual homes less attractive or less of a target to the burglar.  We need to be regularly in God’s Word, serving Him and fellowshipping with other believers.  All these things will help us to know His voice.  We will recognize Him and only let Him in.  We are to avoid those things that draw the burglar in.  We are to run from temptation.  It is wisdom to know our Lord’s voice and follow Him only.

To Be Seen and Heard

Sometimes we feel that no one is listening to us or that no one even knows that we are there.  We feel invisible in the world.  We just want to be seen and heard.  God probably feels the same way.  He tries so hard out of love to reach us.  Yet, sometimes people just don’t see or hear Him and they have a hard time believing in a God they cannot see, but the truth is that He can be seen and heard every day and night.  Read Psalm 19: 1-3.

“1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.”

You might say God instilled in His creation a silent communication to us.  He created the skies and universe that surrounds us to tell of His glory.  Each day or night, if we would but look at God’s handiwork we would hear God speaking to us and showing us Himself.  When one begins to truly take time and analyze our universe, they will soon begin to realize that it isn’t all an accident.  Something bigger than ourselves is behind it all.  What an encouragement to know that God is declaring himself so  mightily to us day and night.  He is right here with us and can be seen and heard clearly, if we but look and listen.