Listening for God's Voice

The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD. Look, the LORD is ready to pass by.” A very powerful wind went before the LORD, digging into the mountain and causing landslides, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the windstorm there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a soft whisper. (1 Kings 19:11-12 NET)

God has given us abilities and wisdom to do some things in life. However there are many times that we just don't know what to do. It is these times that we need to seek God and listen for His voice. Unfortunately we hear so many voices we are not sure which one is His. We hear our own voice, we hear the voice of our friends, we hear the voice of "professionals" and it seems that when we are looking for God's voice, it should be the loudest of them all. This is just not the case. In fact, it is the opposite. Elijah found out that God's voice is a soft whisper. God is not going to come crashing in with the loudest voice (much like humans do), but He comes in with that soft whisper that not only brings the answer, but brings peace. I have found the best thing to do when I don't know what to do is to stop what I am doing, get by myself (if I can) to settle myself down and clear my head, then listen for that soft whisper.