Do you long to hear from the Lord? It is a common refrain that people want to hear from God, and yet they find He seems to be silent. We struggle to identify His voice. We feel He is distant. We want to hear His wisdom, encouragement and direction, but the phone line has gone dead. We wonder if God is mad at us or doesn’t care or is even there at all. The unseen reality is that God always wants to speak to us. He is constantly trying to get our attention, waiting for us to look and listen.

Our family enjoys our television. Frequently, at any time of day, one can find that the television in our family room is on. However, in the last year, we have tried to change that. This largely has to do with one of our daughters. She loves watching shows. The problem is, she gets sucked into them, and when she is in that “mode,” it’s like the rest of us don’t exist. I will call her name repeatedly with no response. Even when I have something good or exciting to offer, it can be as if she doesn’t hear me at all. Now, we are in the habit of making her pause the show or turn the television off altogether so she can listen. We even ask her to listen with her body by turning herself toward us and making eye contact. Once her trance is broken, and she can fully listen, she often chooses not to return to the television but to go on to better activities.

It seems to me that most of us spend our lives with the television on. Maybe not literally, but we intentionally surround ourselves with noise, activities, scrolling on our phones, anything that will take our attention and save our minds from boredom, unpleasant thoughts or emotions. If we are having a hard time hearing the Lord, perhaps it is because we have too many other distractions. God wants to answer. Chances are, He’s been trying to get our attention for a while now. He wants to grow us as believers and as human beings through our attention and listening ears. This requires us to turn off the other distractions and turn—with our whole bodies—toward Him. Practically speaking, this can look like spending time in Scripture, asking a friend to pray for you, or creating five to 10 minutes of quiet time at the beginning or end of your day with the sole purpose of stilling yourself and listening for the Lord. If you are having a hard time discerning His voice, fact-check it. Compare it to other Scriptures, ask for counsel from a mature believer or ask the Lord to give you the same message in a different way. If you intentionally seek to turn off the noise and turn toward the Lord, you will find Him. Tune in your heart and ears to His voice.

The Simple Life

• Consider setting a morning and evening alarm to remind you to take five to 10 minutes to be still and listen to the Lord.
• Having a hard time turning off the thoughts in your head? Acknowledge the thoughts and then let them go. Using your ears, physically listen to the simple sounds around you (a car passing by, the sound of the air turning on, etc.) and focus on slowing your breathing. As you physically still your body and mind, naturally tune your ears and heart to what God has to say. 

Supporting Scripture: 

“If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”

Jeremiah 29:13

This article was originally titled “Tune In” in the January 2025 issue of The War Cry.