Listening to God and then responding by obeying Him is of utmost importance, regardless of what day and age we live in. Hebrews 3:14-15 emphasizes the necessity of immediate response to God’s voice and the danger of hardening our hearts against Him. Those verses read, “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.”

This passage refers to the failure of the Children of Israel to listen to God during their wilderness journey. In fact, they not only failed to listen and obey God, but they resisted and disobeyed Him! They had the Ten Commandments of God given to them on tablets of stone. They had the Law and many other messages from God that were delivered to them through Moses. However, they had hardened their hearts against God’s instructions and rebelled against Him. The difficulty was not with God; it never is. God speaks to man, but man must willingly listen and obey.

The enemy of our souls may attempt to make us think that the concept of God speaking to man is strange, or merely a figment of the imagination. That is false; the voice of God has been speaking to people since the Creation. God spoke to the first man, Adam, and to the first woman, Eve, long before the written Word of God existed. And He has spoken to individual hearts ever since, even if not audibly. Today, we are blessed to have the written Word of God as the primary way God communicates with man. When God’s Spirit speaks to our hearts individually as we read it, Scripture comes alive for us, and the message we hear will always align precisely with His written Word. The question is not whether God speaks; it is whether we will listen and obey.

Listen for God

Throughout God’s Word we find examples of individuals who heard from God and responded to Him. For example, consider the child Samuel. In 1 Samuel 3:1 we read, “And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.” The Word of God was “precious” because it was scarce. That was not God’s fault; His instructions were there all the time, but they went unheeded in those days. Israel had gone so far astray that few were listening to God. Even Eli the priest—the person charged with maintaining the pure worship of God—was guilty of disobeying God’s instructions.

In the first chapter of 1 Samuel, we read that Hannah, the mother of Samuel, had been unable to bear children, so she promised God, “O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 1:11). And that is exactly what she did; when God gave her a son and the child was weaned, she brought him to the Temple to minister to the Lord. God needed someone who would listen and obey because Eli had failed to do so, and that person was Samuel.

It was there in the Temple complex that God spoke to Samuel, calling his name as he was sleeping. The lad was accustomed to listening to instructions and obeying. When he heard his name, he arose and went to Eli the priest, saying, “Here am I.” However, Eli had not called him, so he told Samuel to go back and lie down. God called Samuel’s name again, and then the third time, Eli finally realized that it was God who had spoken to the young boy. He told Samuel, “Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place” (1 Samuel 3:9). When God called Samuel the next time, he listened, and then God gave him an important message of coming judgment.

Though the Children of Israel and their leaders had ignored God’s message, in Samuel He found someone willing to listen. Today, God is looking for that quality in us as well.

Fully obey

Our responsibility when God speaks is to listen and obey. Samuel did so, and his nation was blessed for it. We do not want to be guilty of what is sometimes referred to as “selective hearing”—when a person focuses on certain words but filters out others. That may or may not matter much in our daily environments, but it matters a great deal when it comes to God. We want to hear and heed all of what God says to us!

We find an example of what might have been selective hearing in the account of Saul when he was given instructions from God to go and utterly destroy the Amalekites and all they had, not even sparing their livestock. When Samuel came to the place of sacrifice, Saul told him, “I have performed the commandment of the Lord” (1 Samuel 15:13). However, that was not the case, and Samuel asked, “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear?” Saul had ignored the part of God’s command that instructed him to “utterly destroy.” Because of his failure, Samuel told him, “Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king” (1 Samuel 15:23).

Everything God tells us is for our good. When we receive instructions from Him and do not obey, negative consequences will follow. When we obey, we can count on His blessing. How important it is to take seriously everything He says to us.

Keep listening to God

Another man who heard from God was the prophet Elijah—he learned and then relearned the importance of listening to God’s voice. We read about the events of his life in the Book of 1 Kings. After announcing to King Ahab that the rain in Israel would cease, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, directing him to go hide himself by the brook Cherith. He obeyed and was miraculously fed by ravens there. When the brook dried up, Elijah listened when God instructed him to go to Zarephath, where a widow would sustain him. Sometime later, God told him to go show himself to Ahab again, and that He would send rain. Then we read of the showdown between 450 prophets of Baal against that one man of God, Elijah. What an incredible event that was! Though the false prophets called repeatedly upon their god to send fire, there was no response. But when Elijah prayed, God sent fire that consumed not only the sacrifice, but also the stones of the altar, the wood, the dust, and even the water in the trench around it!

In response, the wicked queen Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah. So, the prophet fled for his life and went into the wilderness, eventually arriving at Horeb, the mount of God. As he lodged there in a cave, God spoke to the prophet, asking, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” Elijah listened when God told him, “Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord” (1 Kings 19:9,11). A mighty wind came, and then an earthquake, and then a fire. However, the wind didn’t give direction. The earthquake rumbling didn’t help him. There was no message in the fire. But then came a “still, small voice”—the voice of God. That voice connected with Elijah’s soul.

The weary prophet said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” But God responded, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:14,18). God didn’t call those seven thousand to rally around the prophet, but Elijah knew the voice of God. Once again, he listened to God’s instructions and obeyed, going from Mount Horeb and anointing the three people identified by God for specific tasks.

No matter how long we have been walking with the Lord or how much He has brought us through, we are never finished listening for God’s voice. If we do so, He will guide us through all the ups and downs of life, just as He did for Elijah.

God speaks to all hearts

A number of years ago when our family was living in Chehalis, Washington, a little boy named Robbie King got up to sing during Sunday school. He was wearing a straw hat and carrying a fishing pole, and he sang, “God talks to little boys while they’re fishing.” I thought, That’s exactly right. He speaks to all of us! He called the disciples from fishing and from tax collecting. He spoke to Moses on the mountain, to young Samuel in the Temple, and to Elijah in front of a cave. God talks to little boys and girls, to young people, to parents, to those who are getting up in years. The voice of God can come to us whatever our occupation or location, and regardless of what is going on in the world. Circumstances do not change the fact that God speaks. That’s never changed!

When Jesus walked this earth, in the middle of his preaching He often said, “If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.” He made it clear that His message was for anyone willing to listen, and He meant more than just processing audible sounds—He wanted them to open their hearts to His words. In Revelation 3:20-22 we read these words from Christ: “Behold I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

Thank God that He still speaks to hearts. We do not want to miss out on hearing from Him. Just as God repeatedly called Samuel, faithfully instructed Saul through Samuel, and patiently guided Elijah, He will speak to our hearts and lead us if we will simply listen and obey. We want to benefit from His instructions in every area of our lives, and we certainly want to hear the Trumpet sound that announces the Rapture, when He comes to take away those who are ready to meet Him in the air.

God will speak! The question is: Will we listen and obey His voice?