The Voice

The Voice

This is so un-Texan that I am ashamed to admit it.  Please know that if I am driving and you wave at me, I probably won’t wave back.  And if I am driving and you honk at me, I won’t hear you because the music is too loud.  When driving, I am either concentrating on the task at hand, listening to music or concentrating on the world in my little head.  This makes me oblivious to the people in the cars.  They are just objects to be avoided. 

Last week while driving home from work on my usual commute, almost to my neighborhood, I passed a woman out walking.  I did not wave but I did not hit her either. That was a win for her and me!   At the time, I was thinking of what I would need to do first when I got home.  Then my thoughts were interrupted.  Maybe she was not just exercising and needed a ride.  This was a thought that was so unlike me that it was startling.  But of course, like a Pharisee, I did not turn around and I continued on my way home.  

About a quarter mile further, while going uphill on my narrow road closer to home, I was suddenly behind two road-hogging bicyclers.  While driving impatiently behind them at a slow crawl, the picture of the walking woman came into my mind and I clearly saw her shoes.  They were not walking shoes.  That was when I knew God was interrupting my day.  I could either keep following those bozos on bikes or I could turn around and ask that woman if she needed a ride.  

It turns out that she desperately needed a ride.  I won’t go into her story but I will tell you this: God loved her dearly to get this clueless unobservant driver to turn around and give her the ride she required. 

I once thought people were holier-than-thou when they said God spoke to them.  But God is a communicator and I believe he loves every single person dearly.  Why wouldn’t he speak to those he loves in any way he chooses?  God is defined in John 1:1 as the Word.  

John 1:1 NIV [1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

A.W. Tozer in his book The Pursuit of God said that it is the nature of God to speak, to communicate His thoughts to others.

Have I ever heard a loud booming voice from heaven?  No.  But I have heard the words God had for me through the mouth of someone else.  I have heard his words through music.  I have heard through total silence.  I have heard them through the beauty of nature.  I have heard them through someone’s art.  I have heard them through written word on the pages of a fictional book.  I have heard them in a Facebook post. I have heard them through a movie.  I have heard them through an overwhelming peace that covered my heart.  I have heard them through a devastating lack of peace.  And I have heard them through physical hindrance of two bicyclers.  Most often though, I have heard God’s voice through prayer and Bible study.  This is what tunes my heart to hear him throughout my day and I pray to hear it more everyday.