Why isn’t God speaking to me? – Am I listening?

Hey y’all!

I am so glad you have come across my blog, I have prayed for you! As always, I am going to be extremely transparent with you. I have found it so encouraging to realize I am not alone in my struggles so, I want to encourage you in the same way.

Lately, I have been in a rut. I feel like I am stagnant in my personal and my spiritual life. The semester has started back, and my motivation and inspiration has plummeted. My life has been overwhelming yet underwhelming all at once. Finding inspiration has been difficult but am I looking in the right places?

When God started placing this blog on my heart, I threw myself into scripture. I was doing a couple devotionals and I was spending time on YouTube listening to God’s word. I was making daily efforts to be in tune with God. And then college started back and life kind of smacked me in the face. I realized that I now must figure out how to balance my school work, my bible reading, spending time with loved ones, church, AND work! … I still haven’t quite figured that out yet, but I’ll keep you updated if I do!

I was spending less time in the word and it felt like I was spending a majority of my prayer time asking God to speak to me. Then, like the professional college student that I am, I would roll over and play on my phone.

How in this world am I going to hear God speaking to me if I won’t sit still, focus, and shut up?! In 1^st Kings, the bible refers to God’s voice as a “still small voice” … Am I ever even quiet enough to hear Him if he is talking to me? What about you, are you expecting an immediate answer and forgetting to listen?

The first step to hearing God speaking is to simply listen and get in tune with Him. This means studying scripture and praying (praying a lot). There’s a boy in the bible named Samuel. His mother, Hannah, couldn’t have children and prayed and prayed for God to bless her. Not only did she ask something of God, but if He made good on His promise she would give her son to Him. One day, she was praying so fervently, Eli (the priest) told her to put away her wine and stop drinking. Hannah, was not drunk, and told Eli about her situation. He sent her away and told her “may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him” (1^st Samuel 1:1-20 NIV).

So, she went home and had faith that God would deliver her a child and He did. Once Samuel was weaned, Hannah made good on her promise and dedicated him to the Lord and he was to live in the temple with Eli always.

The first lesson to learn from this story is that: Hannah presented her problems and desires to God and left them at His feet. She didn’t continue to dwell on what she wanted but she gave it up to God and remained faithful to His promise.

Now, we’re going to fast-forward a bit in Samuel’s life. First, during this time God’s words were very rare. People refused to listen to God or their greed made it too hard to have communication with Him. So, by Eli’s time there were no prophets…

I think it is important to actually read this passage in Samuel 3 so, here it is in the NIV:

⁴ Then the Lord called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.”⁵ And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

⁶ Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸ A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy.⁹ So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

So, the 2^nd lesson to take from this is: be so in tune with God that when He calls out to you, you hear Him the first time. How often are we crying out to God saying, “Here I Am?” God called out to Samuel during a time where people’s hearts were too hardened to hear Him. Are we not in that same boat right now?

It is important to note that God isn’t going to speak to everyone the same way. He may even speak to you differently each time.

I would also like to point out, when people say that God is speaking to them- generally, they aren’t referring to an audible voice. God will speak through scripture, through people, through your surroundings, through music, etc. There is an endless amount of ways that God can speak to you.

Funny story, while I was compiling scripture together for this, I was in my car listening to the radio. I flipped from The Message to K-Love and their verse of the day immediately rang through the speakers:

Psalm 138:3 (NLT) “As soon as I pray, you answer me; by giving my strength.”

God can use anything to speak to us. This verse is literally saying, God immediately answers our prayers by giving us strength. How selfish are we to think this strength isn’t a good enough answer? Strength may translate differently for every prayer. I could mean the strength to get through a crisis or maybe you need the strength to exhibit the fruits of the spirit (don’t we all!). God gives us strength!

When you become discouraged by a lack of answer, you need to evaluate the situation. Is God not speaking to me because He wants me to WAIT? Majority of the time, this applies to me. God is continually calling me to be still…

Is God not speaking to me because He has already given me the answer and I just wasn’t listening?

God gives us free will. He allows us to choose. If you are doing things with God’s best intentions at heart, He may want YOU to decide. This verse reminds me that when I am making decisions, God has my back:

Isaiah 30:21 (NIV) says: “Whether you turn to the right or left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”’

And like I mentioned above, is God not speaking to me because I am simply not listening?

Sometimes we forget that God isn’t on the same timeline as we are. He isn’t in a hurry to answer our prayer, He isn’t stressed. Why are we?

As my dad loves to say: “God is cool, calm, and collected.”

I hope you found this encouraging! I know it is so hard when you want an immediate answer to simply be still and have faith that God has your back!

Love you dearly!!

 

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