Listening for God to speak in our lives can be simple. Do we recognize when it happens? What might it look like? Here is a recent example of this in my own life. Maybe it will help you consider where God might be speaking in yours.
Listening
I like to call it God speaking in stereo. When a theme is echoed in more than one place in my life, reinforcing the message I am receiving.
Last week this happened as I was writing the blog post about the song “Jesus Loves Me.” I was reflecting on which Bible verses to use:
Psalm 139:1
1 John 3:1
In fact the idea to write the blog post solidified when I was sharing my thoughts in a small gathering about whether or not we believe that Jesus loves us. One friend replied, “That’s a blog post.”
Hearing her response reinforced that maybe this was a good idea to pursue.
Familiar Bible verse
While writing the post I reflected which Bible verses would be helpful to hold onto this truth of God loving us while already knowing about us.
Psalm 139 came to mind because I was familiar with it. I had read that Psalm in my Bible so it was in my memory bank.
A song
On my way to a Bible study I heard Matthew West’s song, “Hello, My Name Is.” The bridge of the song speaks of God’s love for His children. When I heard it, I knew that was the phrase I was looking for. The words reminded me of a Bible passage, I just wasn’t sure where to find it in the Bible. Because I was listening, I heard the answer I was seeking.
As soon as I arrived, I wrote down the verse so I wouldn’t forget it. Although I didn’t know where it was located in the Bible, I figured I could do a search later.
A speaker
During the Bible study teaching, the speaker shared a verse from the first letter of John in the New Testament. Problem solved. Wouldn’t you know it was the same verse I had heard in the song and written down? The verse I was seeking showed up more than once. I recognized it because I was listening.
Not long after, during the same teaching, she mentioned the verse from Psalm 139 I planned to use. Why wouldn’t she? I had confirmation for the verse in 1 John, why wouldn’t I receive confirmation for the passage from Psalm 139?
A friend
A remembered verse
A song
A speaker
God speaks
The message for the blog post came about because I listened. God speaks to us through Scripture – one really good reason to be familiar with the Bible. God can also speak to us through people, songs, and circumstances.
Are we listening?